Potential arrest warrant reignites judicial risk for opposition party leader Lee

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, answers reporters’ questions as he heads to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho-dong, Seoul, on the morning of the 17th to be investigated as a suspect in connection with the alleged breach of duty in Baekhyun-dong development project. [Photo by Yonhap]

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung’s “judicial risk” resurfaced Thursday as he appeared for questioning at a prosecutors’ office over alleged breach of duty related to Baekhyeon-dong development project in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, during his time as the city’s mayor.

The common concern of the opposition, which accuses prosecutors of political persecution, and the ruling party, which calls for Lee’s resignation, is when prosecutors will seek an arrest warrant for the opposition party leader. A warrant request in September, when the National Assembly is in session, would require a parliamentary vote on a motion to arrest the lawmaker. Lee appeared at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Thursday and urged prosecutors to seek an arrest warrant against him this month, during the interim parliamentary session.

Prosecutors may seek an arrest warrant for Lee by merging the Baekhyeon-dong case, which is being handled by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, with the alleged North Korean money transfer case being investigated by the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office.

Apart from the Baekhyeon-dong case, Lee is implicated in an ongoing trial which involves a clothing company indicted for illegally sending $8 million to North Korea, which was intended to facilitate Lee’s invitation to Pyongyang.

But Lee has not been summoned for questioning even once regarding the investigation into the North Korea remittance. To merge the investigation results from Seoul and Suwon prosecutors, the process to request an arrest warrant will extend into September.

If an arrest warrant is requested during August, it is possible for Lee to undergo a warrant examination by the court without requiring a parliamentary vote for arrest agreement. However, if the timing of the warrant request extends into the regular parliamentary session in September, both the ruling and opposition parties will need to proceed with a parliamentary vote for arrest agreement.

As internal strife and discord persist within the Democratic Party, the act of holding a parliamentary vote for arrest agreement itself imposes a significant burden on the party.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office investigated Lee on Thursday for alleged breach of duty in connection with the Baekhyeon-dong scandal.

The prosecution claims that when Lee was mayor of Seongnam, he relinquished the development profits that Seongnam City and the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation could have obtained from the city development project. Lee is accused of receiving solicitation from private entrepreneurs related to the development of the site of the Korea Food Research Institute in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, in 2014-2015, to exclude Seongnam Urban Development Corporation from the project, which resulted in the corporation losing out on profits in the hundreds of billions of won range.

Just before attending the probe, Lee argued that “I have never taken a single cent of personal gain.”

Lee Jae-myung tried to highlight the resurfacing judicial risk through a prepared statement read aloud for 14 minutes. Standing on a pre-installed microphone podium set up at a three-way intersection near the Seoul Central District Court where his supporters gathered, he waved his hand and bowed to his supporters, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of an election campaign rally.