On the 22nd, the Democratic Party of Korea, the People Power Party, and independent lawmaker Dong-hoon Han engaged in a battle over the fact that former lawmaker Noh Woong-rae of the Democratic Party was indicted on charges of receiving illegal political funds and was found not guilty in the appeals court.
The Democratic Party attacked a member of the National Assembly by mentioning that "even the sound of money envelopes rustling is recorded as is" while explaining the need to process the motion for the arrest of former lawmaker Roh at a plenary session of the National Assembly in December 2022, when he was Minister of Justice under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration.
On the other hand, Rep. Han and the People's Power Party emphasized that former Rep. Roh was acquitted due to illegal evidence collection and criticized President Lee Jae-myung and the ruling party for defining former Rep. Roh as a victim of the prosecution's wrongful prosecution.
Shin Hyun-young, spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said in a written briefing on this day regarding the trial of former lawmaker Roh, "It took a whopping 3 years and 9 months to correct the fabricated indictment and fabricated investigation by political prosecutor Han Dong-hoon, which was created by abusing state power," and demanded, "A lawmaker who turned an innocent person into a criminal should apologize."
Next, referring to the fact that a lawmaker did not provide his iPhone password when he was investigated for suspicion of collusion between prosecutors and prosecutors in the past, he criticized, saying, "If you want to proudly serve in the National Assembly, first fully explain the case of the person who concealed the iPhone password to the end," and added, "The public clearly remembers the behavior of a lawmaker in the past, who was a typical 'naeronambul lawmaker.'"
The director of the Cho Kuk Innovation Policy Research Institute of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party also pointed out to Rep. Han Dong-hoon on Facebook, “It is an unconstitutional sophistry and still a prosecutorialist,” and “The law is that prosecutors should not conduct ‘illegal collection.’”
He continued, "In my case, I emphasized that illegally collected evidence was submitted, but the judiciary under the Yoon Seok-yeol regime completely ignored it." He continued, "Regardless of the law, my case ended in conviction because Cho Kuk became a 'guy to kill' or a 'guy to throw away,' but the rule of excluding illegally collected evidence must be more firmly maintained and enforced."
Regarding this, a lawmaker refuted this on Facebook, saying, "The recorded conversation between the broker's wife and former lawmaker Roh, which was played in court in the case of former lawmaker Roh, went beyond the 'sound of rustling money envelopes' and clearly contained 'a conversation after receiving the money.'"
He continued, “If you’re going to keep insisting that it’s unfair and that you’re not at fault, let’s all listen to that recording at the National Assembly.”
He also criticized President Lee's apology the previous day, mentioning that he ruled out former lawmaker Roh's nomination as the leader of the Democratic Party in the 2024 general election and saying, "For the overall election, I had no choice but to take advantage of the corrupt behavior of political prosecutors and play a role as a village chagrin."
He criticized Research Institute Director Cho, saying, "It looks like former lawmaker Cho Kuk wants to join in on the build-up to Lee Jae-myeong's indictment tiki-taka," adding, "In the meantime, even Cho Kuk joins in, saying it's unfair."
One lawmaker wrote, "Criminals such as Cho Kuk and Kim Min-seok, who were found guilty by the Supreme Court, are raising their chopsticks and raising their chopsticks, without shame, talking about 'prosecutionists' and 'fabricated indictments'." He added, "Why are you so unfair? Did former lawmaker Cho Kuk not use forged documents, commit corruption in college entrance exams, or evade inspections?"
The People's Power Party also joined in the wave of attacks against President Lee and the Democratic Party, citing former Rep. Roh's acquittal on appeal.
CEO Jang Dong-hyuk, a former judge, wrote on Facebook, "It's not a ruling that 'no money was received'. It's just that the 'illegally collected evidence' was not recognized by the court. Nevertheless, (President Lee Jae-myung) even said 'congratulations', saying 'how unfair it must have been'" and "Is the 'corruption' on his side 'good corruption'?"
Chief Spokesperson Park Seong-hoon said in a commentary, "This acquittal is not a ruling that confirms the substantive truth that former Rep. Noh did not receive money. Excluding the admissibility of evidence and that the prosecution's investigation was manipulated are completely different issues," and was in line with Rep. Han's argument.
Senior Spokesperson Park also said, “We will never sit by and watch the low-level judicial bulletproof politics that seeks to erase even its own judicial risks by using the Noh Woong-rae case as a shield.”
