The Democratic Party of Korea has asserted the innocence of Lee Hwa-young, a key aide to President Lee Jae-myung, and Kim Yong, a former deputy head of the Democratic Research Institute.
Supreme Council member Hwang Myung-sun held a press conference at the National Assembly on the 14th and said, "Those whose lives have been shattered by the politically motivated charges from Yoon Suk-yeol's political prosecution are still standing in court and are imprisoned," adding, "The representative figure is Kim, the former deputy head."
Hwang noted, "The Daejang-dong incident was a political operation aimed at the presidential election," and stated, "The essence of the case is a politically planned incident woven from falsehoods and manipulation."
He added, "The goal was to eliminate Lee Jae-myung, and the means were the abuse of prosecutorial power," stating, "The prosecution indicted Kim Yong based solely on the testimony of a suspect, Yoo Dong-kyu, whose credibility has collapsed, and the court convicted him based on this testimony."
He continued, "We must rectify the politically motivated charges by Yoon Suk-yeol's political prosecution," urging the Supreme Court to "immediately grant bail to the former deputy head Kim, overturn the verdict on the grounds of innocence, and retry the case."
A total of 38 members of the Democratic Party, including Supreme Council member Hwang, signed this statement.
The Democratic Party's task force (TF) responding to the politically motivated prosecutions met with Lee Hwa-young, the former Peace Deputy Governor of Gyeonggi Province, who has been convicted by the Supreme Court for receiving bribes from the SSANGBANGWOOL Group.
TF Director General Jeon Hyun-hee stated on Facebook after the meeting, "The wronged victim of the political prosecution, Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young, must be released soon," and added, "The essence of the North Korea remittance case is a product of the political prosecution's investigation manipulation and coercive indictment using the salmon party's inducement and intimidation."
He noted, "Testimonies supporting the innocence of former SSANGBANGWOOL Group Chairman Kim Seong-tae and Chairman Bae Sang-yun, among others, are also coming in," stating that "the release of Deputy Governor Lee, a victim of the political prosecution's 'eliminate Lee Jae-myung' operation, is a matter of judicial justice."
Former Supreme Council member Jeon stated, "We must never forget our comrades, including former deputy head Kim, Chief Secretary Jeong Jin-sang, and former representative Song Young-gil. We must protect them," adding, "Until the day they return to our side, having resolved the injustice faced by our comrades sacrificed to the political operation of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, we will fight until the end."
Previously, Kim was sentenced to five years in prison in February for receiving money and valuables from the Daejang-dong gang. The court revoked his bail, which had been granted during the appeal process, and remanded him back to court.
Lee has had a total sentence of seven years and eight months confirmed by the Supreme Court in June for charges including bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.