“If He Plays a Crucial Role in Passing Judgment on the Government, We Should Give Him Room” Park Sung-joon Speaks on Possible Bid in Parliamentary Elections by Cho Kuk

Park Sung-joon, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea. From Park Sung-joon’s blog

Park Sung-joon, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea, responded to the remark by Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon, who said, “Twenty people (Democratic Party legislators) who received envelopes of cash took part in the vote,” and criticized, “He needs to show some respect to the legislators representing the National Assembly.”

On June 13, Park appeared on the CBS radio program, Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show and admitted that the incident was not eyed as good by the people and that it also involved problems of morality, but asked back, “Don’t lawmakers represent the people?” He then said, “Minister Han is a government representative, and I thought he went too far by referring to them (legislators) as a criminal group,” before demanding some respect.

In the parliamentary session on Monday, legislators rejected a motion to arrest independent lawmakers Youn Kwan-suk and Lee Sung-man for delivering envelopes of cash at the time of the Democratic Party of Korea convention in 2021.

When the host asked if Park expected lawmakers to vote against the motion, Park said, “No, I did not.” He explained, “Even in the Democratic Party, as few as twenty to some dozens of votes were tossed in support of the motion. That means the result was determined by only about a dozen votes, so I don’t think anyone could have expected the outcome.”

When asked if he sensed the mood leaning toward rejecting the motion in the general meeting of the party’s lawmakers just before the parliamentary session, Park answered, “In the meeting, some legislators mentioned the unfairness and ruthlessness of the prosecutor’s investigation, and I think some consensus was formed on the fact that investigations were ongoing to oppress the opposition party.” At the same time, he said, “But no one expected the outcome of the vote, because a rejection could lead to public criticism since there was the accusation of ‘bulletproof lawmakers’ and the criticism of the Democratic Party’s morality.”

As for any division in the party, the Democratic Party spokesperson said, “The moment the party is divided, they will begin pointing fingers at each other, and due to the centrifugal force, they themselves will be flung out.” He argued, “In the end, you can say that the prosecutors’ investigation by the Yoon Suk-yeol government and the oppression of the opposition party have acted as a defense mechanism blocking factors of division in the Democratic Party.”

Park also spoke on the rumor of a possible bid by former minister Cho Kuk in the next parliamentary election and said, “If he is the man who can play a crucial role in passing judgment on the Yoon Suk-yeol government, then we need to give him all the political space we can.”