Probe shifting to People's Party leaders

Park Joo-sun, the interim leader of the People’s Party, coughs during a meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap

Leaders deny systematic fraud, but evidence points otherwise

By Jung Min-ho

Prosecutors are closing in on the leaders of the People’s Party, including former presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, after pressing charges against a senior official who played a major role in his campaign.

The Seoul Southern Prosecutors’ Office requested an arrest warrant for Lee Jun-seo, Sunday, on charges of knowingly allowing party member Lee You-mi to fabricate a voice recording and handing the file over to party leaders so that they could use it to attack then-rival candidate Moon Jae-in.

Based on the fake evidence, party leaders accused him of helping his son Joon-yong get a job at a government agency in 2006, when Moon was working for former President Roh Moo-hyun at Cheong Wa Dae.

It was a last-ditch tactic to change the minds of many Koreans, who were tired of favoritism following the Choi Soon-sil scandal, and to elect Ahn as the nation’s next leader.

In contrast to the party’s claims, the prosecution concluded that Lee Jun-seo requested Lee You-mi to gain “critical material” against Moon and deliberately skipped the fact-checking process.

Prosecutors also requested an arrest warrant for Lee You-mi’s brother on charges of working with her to make the fake recording.

If the Seoul Southern District Court approves the warrants, which is scheduled for Tuesday at 10:30 a.m., it will likely be a deadly blow to the party as the prosecution is expected to press the same charges against its leaders.

Politically, it is almost dead already.

According to local pollster Realmeter, Monday, its approval rating is 5.1 percent, the lowest among the five major parties. Given that it has 40 out of total 300 parliamentary seats, it is a miserable record. Some polls show it is lagging behind the Liberty Korea Party even in the Jeolla provinces, the source of most of its parliamentary seats.

In another poll, when asked about the fabrication scandal, 71.5 percent of people said they believe it was systematic deception, whereas only 13.9 percent said they think Lee You-mi did it all by herself.

When prosecutors concluded that more people other than Lee You-mi were involved, in contrast to the party’s claims, party leaders accused them of toeing the line with the Moon government. But no one ― except for its own members ― seems to be listening.

Choo Mi-ae, the leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, accused leaders of the People’s Party of “trampling the nation’s democracy and violating its Constitution.”

In its defense, Park Joo-sun, the interim leader, retorted that Choo was trying to kill the party by taking advantage of the prosecution’s power.

Meanwhile, Na Yoo-in, a senior party official, announced that he will leave the party with some other members, which may be the beginning of a mass exodus.

At the party’s media briefing room in Gimje, North Jeolla Province, Na said more than 400 members were seriously thinking about leaving the party.

“The party is promoting new politics while practicing gang-style old politics,” he said. “We will try to find a new way.”