Lee Jun-seok: "The 'Salmon Drinking Party' Fabrication is the Starting Point of Prosecution Withdrawal; It Ends Only in Resignation"

Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok stated today (June 22) that "the 'salmon drinking party' was the starting point that turned the entire North Korea remittance trial into a 'fabricated indictment' and pushed for a 'special counsel to withdraw the indictment,'" adding, "Do not even dream of withdrawing the indictment. The end will be the same resignation as Nixon (former U.S. President)."

During the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly today, Lee argued, "The shamelessness of spitting on the prosecution's indictment as a 'fabrication' while inviting the prosecution's sword and connections into the inner sanctum of the Blue House is the true face of the Lee Jae-myung administration. The 'salmon drinking party' is at the starting point of that duplicity. It was a crime that deceived the National Assembly by inventing things that did not happen."

This statement follows the sentencing of former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young, who was sentenced to four months in prison in a jury trial on the 20th for perjury after raising allegations of a so-called "salmon drinking party at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office."

"I demand a statement from all Democratic Party lawmakers who have been shouting about the 'salmon drinking party' for the past two years," Lee criticized. "They are the ones who branded a prosecutor as a 'coercion operative.' The massive ruling party and the administration poured all their firepower onto one prosecutor."

He continued, "If a person uses someone else's life as kindling to cover up their own crimes, that alone is enough to disqualify Lee Jae-myung from being president. Fifty years ago, what brought down President Nixon in the U.S. was not the crime of wiretapping, but the cover-up to hide the crime."

He further mentioned, "Nixon fired the special counsel who investigated him and was eventually fired himself. The outcome of the 'salmon drinking party fabrication case' carried out by the Lee Jae-myung administration will be no different."

After the Supreme Council meeting, when asked by reporters about the "beverage throwing self-staged drama" allegations involving former Busan mayoral candidate Jung Yi-han, Lee said, "Since he has left the party, the actions we can take are limited, but we are making every effort to uncover the truth."

Floor Leader Cheon Ha-ram said at the meeting, "The situation of internal power struggles within the Democratic Party will further strengthen President Lee Jae-myung's party-centered line. In particular, he is changing his stance on real estate policy, moving away from pragmatism toward ideology, which is a typical Democratic Party policy. President Lee has become a 'spicy version of Moon Jae-in.'"

He added, "Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom says that holding taxes and capital gains taxes should be strengthened to prevent liquidity from the semiconductor boom from flowing into the real estate market. We have already walked the path of Moon Jae-in, who raised both holding taxes and capital gains taxes. I hope he will prioritize realistic supply measures even now and walk the path for the people, not the path of the 'gae-ttal' (Lee Jae-myung's core supporters)."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.