The People Power Party said Monday it would pursue legal action, claiming that violence occurred during a protest visit to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency to raise concerns over a ballot shortage in the June 3 local elections.
Floor Leader Chung Jum-sik wrote on his Facebook that day, "I received a report that the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's security chief committed violence against our party's staff, attempting to seize a mobile phone while twisting a wrist and grabbing a neck."
Chung said, "This is violence that cannot possibly be overlooked, and I strongly condemn it. At the party level, we will hold those responsible legally accountable." He added, "I demand that President Lee Jae-myung impose strong disciplinary measures against the security chief and Seoul Metropolitan Police Commissioner Park Jung-bo." He also said, "I urge acting National Police Agency Commissioner Yoo Jae-sung to issue an official apology to the victim and the People Power Party on behalf of the police."
The protest visit to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency included Supreme Council member Shin Dong-wook, along with lawmakers Na Kyung-won, Lee Cheol-kyu, and Joo Jin-woo. They protested remarks made earlier by Seoul Metropolitan Police Commissioner Park Jung-bo concerning a "vote-counting center blockade protest," in which he said, "Anyone who thoughtlessly goes along with illegal acts and ends up charged as an accomplice could face ruin."
Immediately after the protest visit, lawmaker Na Kyung-won wrote on her Facebook, "It took an hour just to arrange the so-called 'protocol consultation' for a single meeting with the commissioner." She added, "In the meantime, National Assembly staff had their wrists and necks grabbed and were even told, in an act of brazen reversal, that they were engaged in 'illegal evidence collection.'"
Na said, "This is how it is in front of opposition lawmakers who came to deliver the people's will. So how must it be in front of ordinary citizens?" She added, "How can an agency meant to protect the people be this arrogant?"
Lawmaker Joo Jin-woo added on Facebook, "If this is how they treat lawmakers and staff who came on a protest visit representing the people, it is obvious how arbitrarily they would wield public authority against ordinary citizens."
