The National Assembly Special Committee for Investigating Fabricated Prosecutions under the Yoon Suk Yeol Administration visited the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office on Thursday to conduct an on-site investigation into the Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case. The ruling party claimed it was "the very center of fabricated prosecutions under the Yoon administration," while the opposition countered it was "an illegal investigation aimed at interfering with ongoing trials," sparking clashes from the start.
Lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties on the special committee visited the Suwon prosecutors' office to investigate allegations of a "salmon and liquor party" during the Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case investigation. Democratic Party lawmakers Park Sung-joon, Kim Seung-won, Jeon Yong-gi, Lee Geon-tae, and Park Seo-won attended, along with People Power Party lawmakers Na Kyung-won, Yoon Sang-hyun, Kwak Gyu-taek, and Lee Sang-hwi. Cha Gyu-geun of the Rebuilding Korea Party also participated.
Committee members from both parties engaged in tense confrontations from the moment they entered the prosecutors' office. Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Geon-tae stated, "Room 1313 at Suwon prosecutors' office (Prosecutor Park Sang-yong's office) is a symbolic den of fabricated prosecutions through plea bargaining," adding, "We will recreate the process where former Ssangbangwool Chairman Kim Sung-tae's secretary bought soju at a convenience store in front of the prosecutors' office and brought it back in water bottles."
Na Kyung-won of the People Power Party responded, "The Democratic Party lawmakers' efforts are admirable," but challenged, "From the time the soju was allegedly purchased, they would have had to bring it to the prosecutors' office and consume it within 23 minutes before defense attorney Seol Ju-wan arrived around 7 p.m., then ventilate to remove the smell—is that even possible? This is pure fiction."
The committee members then moved to Room 1313, the center of the controversy, to conduct an on-site inspection. During this process, ruling party members confronted prosecutors' office officials over the removal of some furniture from Room 1313, leading to another verbal clash.
Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Geon-tae told reporters, "The place where they ate salmon rice bowls and drank soju was the video recording room, and the 'testimony seminar' took place in Room 1315, a storage room," claiming, "When detained suspects came to the prosecutors' office, they coordinated their testimonies all day in this storage room."
Democratic Party lawmaker Park Seon-won said, "In Room 1313 (the prosecutor's office), Prosecutor Park frequently summoned Kim Sung-tae's associates to attend to him and provided conveniences," adding, "Room 1313 was an environment where no prison guard could verify any dealings between the prosecutor and the criminal."
The committee members then moved to the nearby convenience store where Kim's associate allegedly purchased soju and other items to recreate the situation. Democratic Party lawmaker Park Sung-joon said, "According to the receipt, on May 17, 2023, a Ssangbangwool employee paid 12,100 won for three bottles of water, three bottles of soju, cigarettes, and a bag," adding, "They then emptied the water from the bottles and filled them with soju." He demonstrated the situation by pouring out water and filling the empty bottles with soju.
Ruling party members also raised further suspicions by checking the walking time from the convenience store to the prosecutors' office and the route through which the salmon rice bowls were brought in. Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Geon-tae claimed, "Detention center inmates on business trips to the prosecutor's office must go down to the detention facility for meals. Allowing them to eat salmon rice bowls was the ultimate preferential treatment."
Meanwhile, the remaining special committee members who did not visit Suwon prosecutors' office conducted an on-site investigation at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which investigated the Daejang-dong development corruption case.
Ruling party lawmakers including Committee Chair Seo Young-kyo specifically mentioned the case where attorney Nam Wook, a defendant in the case, was made to wait in a detention facility for three days and two nights, claiming "there was no such precedent."
Attorney Nam was reportedly forcibly repatriated in September 2022 after refusing to cooperate with investigations related to the Daejang-dong case and was held in the Central Prosecutors' Office's detention facility for three days and two nights. Chief Prosecutor Jeong Il-kwon, who led the investigation at the time, previously stated that "the warrant was lawfully executed after [Nam] failed to comply with legitimate summons requests."
The on-site investigation faced disruptions from the start. When Committee Chair Seo stated, "After the Yoon administration came to power, already-concluded cases were reinvestigated to eliminate political opponents," People Power Party lawmaker Shin Dong-wook countered, "It is inappropriate to act as if we have come to a major crime scene." When Chair Seo warned Shin to stop speaking and threatened to expel him, the two parties continued their verbal clash for approximately 18 minutes.
