Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Ex-DPK chief 's political career in jeopardy after arrest
Song Young-gil, former chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, speaks to reporters after his arrest warrant hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
Song Young-gil, former chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), now sees his 24-year political career hanging in the balance, after he was arrested over a cash-for-votes scandal related to the party's 2021 leadership election.
Song was arrested late on Monday after the Seoul Central District Court approved an arrest warrant on charges that included illegal political funding.
The court said it has been “verified that Song has received a substantial amount of illegal political funds and was partially involved in bribery related to the party’s leadership election.”
Song has been under investigation by prosecutors since April following allegations that envelopes full of cash totaling 66 million won ($50,600) were distributed to 20 DPK lawmakers and other party members during to the party’s chairman election in May 2021, which Song won.
Prosecutors suspect Song sourced the money through illegal political funds he received from a businessman and Rep. Lee Sung-man, a former DPK member who has left the party but still holds an Assembly seat as an independent. Song is also facing charges of receiving illegal funds worth 763 million won through the Research Institute for Peace & Livelihood.
The arrest deals a critical blow to Song, who has been seeking to return to politics before the general elections, which are scheduled to take place in April next year.
Song is a five-term lawmaker and a former Incheon mayor who established himself as one of the frontrunners of a group of pro-democracy activists-turned-lawmakers, commonly described in Korea as the 86 group.
His political presence became bigger after he was elected chairman of the DPK in 2021, which was a position of some importance due to the presidential election held on March 9, 2022.
Two days before the presidential election, he was attacked by a liberal extremist, who struck him on the head with a hammer during street canvassing for then-DPK presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung in Seodaemun District, Seoul. After undergoing surgery, he returned to the campaign trail a day later, still visibly injured.
However, as the presidential election ended with President Yoon Suk Yeol’s victory, he stepped down from the party's leadership to take responsibility for the defeat.
He then abandoned his lawmaker status and ran for Seoul mayor in local elections in the same year, but suffered a crushing defeat to Oh Se-hoon by 19.82 percentage points.
After the mayoral election, he stayed in France as a visiting scholar at ESCP Business School in Paris, until returning to Korea in April this year in the wake of the prosecution’s investigation of the cash-for-votes scandal.
Song had been denying the allegations, accusing prosecutors of conducting “a politically motivated investigation” targeting him.
By publicly criticizing the investigation, it appears that Song sought to gain political attention once more in order to boost his return to politics at some point in the future.
Last month, he slammed Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, who is expected to become the interim leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), calling him an “arrogant youngster,” and flip-flopped on his earlier promise of giving up hopes on his reelection bid by creating a party to run in the general elections.
With these recent revelations, the outlook for his political career remains bleak as the court noted that some of the charges against him have been verified, meaning the prosecution’s investigations were justifiable.
“In recent months, Song created various controversies, deepening the public's distrust and disappointment concerning politics,” PPP floor leader Rep. Yun Jae-ok said Tuesday. “In Song’s actions and remarks, we could witness the moral downfall of the 86 group.”