People Power Party (PPP) Floor Leader Song Eon-seok sharply criticized the Democratic Party of Korea's push for a "special counsel bill on allegations of fabricated investigations and indictments under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration," calling it "a shameless act of a thief personally designating the police to erase traces of his own crime."
Song made the remarks at a press briefing held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on Wednesday, directly rebutting the Democratic Party's claims while referring to the results of the recently concluded parliamentary audit. "Far from producing evidence of fabricated indictments, the audit instead yielded decisive testimony supporting the allegations against President Lee Jae-myung," he stressed.
Specifically, he cited the statement by Bang Yong-chul, vice chairman of Ssangbangwool, who testified that he remitted $700,000 in exchange for then-Governor Lee's North Korea visit, and the testimony of former Ssangbangwool chairman Kim Seong-tae, who denied the so-called "salmon sashimi drinking party" allegation. "This parliamentary audit served as an opportunity to expose the Democratic Party's 'fabricated indictment' agitation as a lie and move closer to the truth," Song said, denouncing the groundless special counsel push as nothing more than an act forcing an unreasonable withdrawal of prosecution.
Song went on to point out that "an attempt by a sitting president to appoint a special counsel to neutralize his own trial shakes the very foundation of modern rule of law, which holds that 'no one can be a judge in his own case.'"
He identified the upcoming June 3 local elections as a turning point in the current situation. "This election will be one that asks the people whether a president can enjoy privilege and have his trial erased simply because he is president," Song said, foreshadowing that the vote will determine whether Korea is "a country of privilege" or "a country of rule of law and justice."
Regarding parliamentary strategy, he acknowledged the limitations of being a minority ruling party but displayed a strong will to fight. "Although we lack seats, we will mobilize all available means to block the special counsel, confronting the arrogance of the majority party," he said.
In particular, he described the "Greater Seoul Joint Conference" proposed by Cho Eung-chun, the Reform Party's candidate for Gyeonggi governor, as "a very timely proposal."
Song also took aim at controversies over the morality and attitude of Democratic Party candidates. Referring to the "hand-shaking then hand-wiping" controversy involving former presidential AI secretary Ha Jung-woo, who is a strong contender to run in Busan's Buk-gap district, he mocked, "The explanation that he shook his hand because it was numb is an arrogant act that treats the people as fools."
Meanwhile, on the formation of the PPP's Central Election Committee, he added, "As the nomination process has wrapped up, it is expected to be formed by the party leader's decision within this week."
