The People Power Party (PPP) labeled the recording of prosecutor Park Sang-yong, released by the Democratic Party of Korea, as "fake news" and pressured the opposition to release the full recording on Wednesday.
The Democratic Party had released a partial audio file the previous day from Park, who had been investigating the "Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case," reinforcing its longstanding claim that prosecutors coerced and pressured Lee Hwa-young, former vice governor for peace affairs of Gyeonggi Province.
PPP floor leader Song Eon-seok said at a supreme council meeting held at the National Assembly, "Democratic Party lawmakers released portions of a phone call recording between prosecutor Park Sang-yong and attorney Seo Min-seok, igniting incitement over allegations of a fabricated indictment in the North Korea remittance case, claiming prosecutors coerced and pressured Lee Hwa-young's side."
"However, the released recording only contains excerpts of prosecutor Park Sang-yong's remarks. They intentionally cut out the context before and after his statements and are now claiming this constitutes evidence of prosecutorial pressure on testimony," Song criticized.
He continued, "The very act of releasing only partial audio is evidence manipulation for incitement purposes — it is truth manipulation." He added, "It was the Democratic Party that claimed a photo of President Lee Jae-myung and the late director Kim Moon-ki taken together in Australia was fabricated because part of it had been enlarged. The selective editing of the phone call between prosecutor Park Sang-yong and attorney Seo Min-seok is the real information manipulation and clear fake news."
Song also said, "Fitting logic and evidence to a predetermined conclusion is not a state affairs investigation but state affairs manipulation and public incitement." He urged, "The Democratic Party should release the full, unedited recording and try to rebut prosecutor Park Sang-yong's remarks."
Senior supreme council member Shin Dong-wook criticized the Democratic Party for playing the recording card to strengthen its frame of a fabricated indictment. "I don't understand why a recording that has existed for a long time is suddenly surfacing now," he said. "Since last year, the Democratic Party has persistently argued through the Legislation and Judiciary Committee that the indictment of President Lee Jae-myung was fabricated. So where has this recording been all this time?"
He added, "Listening to the Democratic Party's explanation, they say attorney Seo Min-seok's whereabouts were unknown and he suddenly found the recording." Shin continued, "They seem to be performing a miraculous feat of claiming they lost it somewhere and suddenly found it. This alone makes it clear they are trying to conduct a state affairs investigation to fabricate a fabricated indictment narrative. The Democratic Party should stop here."