The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee has decided to file criminal charges against prosecutor Park Sang-yong, who is accused of proposing a sentencing deal during the investigation of the Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case.
Kim Yong-min, the ruling party's chief secretary on the committee, announced on his Facebook page Tuesday that "we are filing charges against prosecutor Park Sang-yong for violating the National Assembly Testimony and Appraisal Act."
"Circumstantial evidence supporting the allegations of perjury and witness coercion that have been raised against prosecutor Park has been confirmed," Kim explained. "During last year's parliamentary audit and the prosecution reform legislative hearing, prosecutor Park brazenly denied the allegations of the salmon party and witness coercion," he added. "However, recent recordings with attorney Seo Min-seok and testimony from a prison guard at the time have revealed details that contradict his previous statements."
"The crime of deceiving the National Assembly and undermining the rule of law is by no means light," Kim said. "We will hold him strictly accountable through a thorough investigation and bring him before the judgment of the law."
Prosecutor Park is suspected of having summoned Lee Hwa-young, former vice governor for peace affairs under President Lee Jae-myung during his tenure as Gyeonggi Province governor, and Kim Sung-tae, former chairman of Ssangbangwool, in May 2023, providing them with salmon sashimi and soju while allegedly coercing them to testify that President Lee was involved in the North Korea remittance process.
In particular, allegations have been raised that prosecutor Park, during a phone call with attorney Seo Min-seok, the defense lawyer for former vice governor Lee, attempted to designate President Lee as the principal offender in exchange for reducing former vice governor Lee's role to that of an accessory.
Prosecutor Park has denied the allegations, calling them "spliced recordings" and countering that "it was attorney Seo Min-seok who proposed applying accessory charges to Lee Hwa-young."
Earlier on Saturday, prosecutor Park attended a plenary session of the Special Committee for Fact-Finding Investigation into Allegations of Politically Motivated Prosecutorial Fabrication and Indictment Under the Yoon Suk-yeol Administration, but was ordered to leave after just 38 minutes for refusing to take the witness oath.