Prosecutors sought fines for former and incumbent Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers and aides over the "fast track" clash at the National Assembly in Apr. 2019.
At a sentencing hearing on the 28th before the Criminal Division 12 of the Seoul Southern District Court (Chief Judge Kim Jeong-gon), prosecutors asked the court to impose a fine of 4 million won on Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Beom-kye, who was indicted on charges including joint assault under the Act on the Punishment of Violent Acts, and a fine of 3 million won on fellow party lawmaker Park Ju-min.
For Kim Byung-wook, then an incumbent lawmaker and now presidential secretary for political affairs, prosecutors sought a fine of 15 million won, and for former lawmakers Lee Jong-kul and Pyo Chang-won, fines of 7 million won and 5 million won, respectively. Aides from lawmakers' offices and party officials also faced proposed fines ranging from 2 million won to 12 million won.
Ten Democratic Party of Korea figures, including lawmakers Park Beom-kye and Park Ju-min, were indicted without detention in Jan. 2020 on charges of assaulting or injuring members of the Liberty Korea Party (now the People Power Party) during the fast track clash.
Park Beom-kye appeared at the sentencing hearing that day and told reporters, "This is a cosmetic, selectively retaliatory indictment against me and other Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers who have a black mark with the Yoon Suk-yeol prosecution," adding, "Compared with the National Assembly Act violation case involving People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won and others, my case and those of my colleagues aren't even one one-hundredth the size."
Park Ju-min said, "This case is a textbook example showing the political nature of past prosecutorial investigations and indictments," adding, "There will be a charging request and a ruling that accord with the truth."
Earlier, the Seoul Southern District Court handed down fines at levels that allow them to keep their seats to 26 people, including People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won and floor leader Song Eon-seog, who were indicted over the fast track clash. Na and seven others appealed, but prosecutors gave up their appeal. As a result, six incumbent lawmakers indicted in this case will retain their seats.
Regarding Na and others filing appeals, Park Beom-kye said, "It looks like they appealed just to save face," adding, "When at home alone, they'll be laughing." He went on to argue that while a Public Official Election Act violation case was merged with another case, election crimes that are minor are usually separated for indictment and sentencing, but National Assembly Act violation cases are not, calling it "a lenient investigation and a lenient trial."
Park Ju-min said, "Internal prosecutorial rules require an appeal when the sentence differs from the charging request," adding, "Not appealing cannot be seen as proper handling of duties." He argued that because prosecutors sought prison terms but fines were imposed, they should have appealed under the Supreme Prosecutors' Office guideline "Guideline on handling prosecutors' charging requests and appeals, etc."
Earlier at the National Assembly in Apr. 2019, the Democratic Party of Korea joined hands with minor opposition parties and tried to designate as fast track items a bill to create the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) and an amendment to the Public Official Election Act introducing a mixed-member proportional representation system, pushing them through, which led to physical clashes with the Liberty Korea Party.
Liberty Korea Party lawmakers and aides occupied the seventh-floor bill section of the main National Assembly building, the second-floor special committee on judicial reform, and the third-floor operations committee conference room, among other locations. At the time, Bareunmirae Party lawmaker Chae Yi-bae was even confined in his National Assembly members' office.