The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee has decided to indict prosecutor Park Sang-yong on perjury charges in connection with his investigation of the Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case.
The committee held a plenary session at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on Thursday, putting the indictment motion on the agenda and passing it under the ruling party's leadership. People Power Party lawmakers opposed the indictment and walked out just before the vote.
The Democratic Party of Korea has argued that prosecutor Park committed perjury during his testimony as a witness at the "Prosecution Reform Legislative Hearing" in September last year and the National Assembly audit in October, and should be indicted under the Act on Testimony and Appraisal before the National Assembly.
In particular, the party maintains that Park's statements at the National Assembly—including "there was no salmon party," "no outside food was brought in," and "no Ssangbangwool employees were present"—were false, as he denied any attempt to coerce testimony from former Gyeonggi Province Peace Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young.
The Democratic Party has continued these claims based on a recorded phone conversation between prosecutor Park and attorney Seo Min-seok, who represented former Vice Governor Lee during the investigation. In the call, prosecutor Park allegedly attempted to coerce Lee by characterizing then-Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung as the principal offender and former Vice Governor Lee as an accessory.
Prosecutor Park has maintained that "attorney Seo first proposed that former Vice Governor Lee be treated as an accessory."
"Is indicting a prosecutor who lies really something so frightening that the opposition would go to such lengths to oppose it?" said Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Yong-min, the party's chief secretary on the Judiciary Committee. "If he fabricated the case and obtained false statements by coercing and threatening the suspect, he must be punished."
In response, People Power Party lawmaker Song Seok-jun said, "By indicting him for perjury, they're branding prosecutor Park as a fabricating prosecutor, a coercing prosecutor, and now a perjuring prosecutor—this is nothing but a political witch hunt." He added, "The whole world knows the real goal is to have the charges against President Lee Jae-myung dropped."