Speaking at a party Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly, PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok said, “A law that exists for only one person is not law, but violence and a crime.”
Jang said there is “exactly one person on the Korean Peninsula who does not go to prison no matter what crime is committed,” referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He added, “It looks like there will be one more. Does President Lee Jae-myung want to become ‘No. 2’ in supreme dignity?”
Jang also said the bill would mobilize 350 people and spend “hundreds of billions of won” in taxpayer money to wipe out one person’s alleged wrongdoing. He said it would be more honest to create a “supreme dignity law” for Lee and, in an Orwellian way, declare Lee “more equal,” placing him above the Constitution.
He said when “rule by man” overwhelms the rule of law, the values of freedom and equality collapse. Jang said voters’ choice on June 3 will determine whether they live as citizens of a liberal democratic South Korea or become “slaves” in what he called “Lee Jae-myung’s Animal Farm,” adding that the local elections are about protecting liberal democracy and the constitutional order.
Floor leader Song Eon-seok said the Democratic Party pushed last November for legislation to suspend a president’s trial, but that it was abruptly halted after Lee urged restraint. Song said then-chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik publicly warned party leader Jung Cheong-rae not to drag the president into political conflict.
Song claimed Lee’s intent became clear “after half a year,” arguing that Lee was not seeking a temporary suspension of his trial during his term but instead wanted a plan to eliminate the trial altogether.
He said Lee’s decision to stop the trial-suspension bill while remaining silent on what Song called a “case-cancellation, trial-deletion” plan was evidence. Song said canceling an indictment in the president’s criminal trial by using a parliamentary investigation and a special counsel would be “null and void from the start.”
Song said Lee might be able to use power to force his trial to disappear “once,” but that the public would eventually restart it and ensure he pays for his alleged wrongdoing. He added that even a president should go to prison if a crime is committed, and said politics that uses power to shield oneself “outside the law” will not be tolerated by the public or history.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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