Former President Moon urges DP's Lee to oust conservatives from presidency

Former President Moon Jae-in urged Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung to retake the presidency from the conservative People Power Party (PPP) in a meeting on Sunday where both took swipes against the current Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung, left, holds hands with former President Moon Jae-in following their meeting in Pyeongsan Village, South Gyeongsang, on Sunday. [NEWS1]

Former President Moon Jae-in urged Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung to retake the presidency from the conservative People Power Party (PPP) in a meeting on Sunday where both took swipes against the current Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

The 40-minute meeting between Lee and Moon took place at the former president’s residence in Pyeongsan Village, South Gyeongsang, according to DP spokesman Cho Seung-rae.

Cho said Lee was accompanied by other members of the party’s new Supreme Council during his trip to Pyeongsan Village.

During the meeting, Lee criticized the Yoon administration for “engaging in political repression without legal justification” and accused the president of “trying to consolidate his base” by having the state prosecution service probe his liberal predecessor.

In turn, Moon thanked Lee and the party for their support amid the ongoing investigation into his family’s affairs and promised to respond “forcefully” to bribery suspicions regarding his former son-in-law, according to Cho.

Moon also told Lee that the DP “should prepare to take control of the government” and criticized Yoon for “becoming president when he was unprepared.”

According to the DP spokesman, Lee and Moon “agreed that reform of the state prosecution service remains incomplete” and that prosecutors are wielding their investigative powers “as a tool of political retaliation” against liberal politicians.

Last week, DP floor leader Park Chan-dae criticized the prosecution’s designation of Moon as a bribery suspect as a “typical attempt to humiliate a former president” and a “deceptive maneuver” to divert public attention from the government’s failures.

Moon, who left office in 2022, came under investigation last month after it was revealed that his former son-in-law, who previously worked at a gaming company, was appointed as an executive director at the Thai subsidiary of Korean budget airline Eastar Jet shortly after the company’s founder, DP lawmaker Lee Sang-jik, was named head of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency in March 2018.

Prosecutors have also accused Moon’s daughter of receiving 50 million won ($37,000) through her bank account from an acquaintance of her mother, Kim Jung-sook, in addition to allegedly receiving some 250 million won from a publishing company that published Moon’s autobiography after his term.

The inclusion of the former president as a bribery suspect has fueled speculation that he may soon be summoned for questioning, according to legal sources.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office is also investigating whether former first lady Kim misused government resources in her trip to the Taj Mahal in India in November 2018.

She is accused of illegally using 400 million won from a government contingency fund for the trip, which was arranged after the Foreign Ministry obtained an invitation from the Indian government.

Additionally, the prosecution is investigating accusations that Kim used taxpayers’ money to purchase a Chanel jacket during Moon’s official trip to France in 2018.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]