"Salmon Drinking Party Was False Propaganda"... "Prosecution Engaged in Illegal Investigation"

[Anchor]

The ruling and opposition parties have expressed polar opposite positions following the first-instance sentencing of former Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young to four months in prison. The People Power Party launched an offensive, claiming that the allegations of a "salmon drinking party" have been exposed as false propaganda. In contrast, the Democratic Party countered by emphasizing the dismissal of charges, arguing that it has revealed the prosecution's illegal investigation tactics.

Reporter Park Ye-rin has the story.

[Reporter]

The People Power Party launched an offensive, stating that as the first-instance court found former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young guilty of perjury regarding his "salmon drinking party" claims, his false propaganda and conspiracy theories have lost their standing.

They argued that "Lee's absurd lies were the core script for the Democratic Party to frame the entire Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case as a fabricated investigation by the prosecution."

[Park Soo-young / Chief Spokesperson of the People Power Party: It has been clearly revealed that the 'fabricated investigation' frame pushed by the massive opposition party and President Lee Jae-myung, which undermined the foundation of democracy, was ultimately a grand fraud against the public.]

Floor Leader Jeong Jeom-sik sharpened his criticism, stating, "The core basis for the Democratic Party's demand to drop the charges in President Lee Jae-myung's North Korea remittance trial has collapsed," and added, "They must abandon their obsession with dropping the charges."

On the other hand, the Democratic Party countered that the People Power Party is misleading public opinion, asserting that "the essence of this ruling is that, excluding the perjury charge, all other key charges—including violations of the Political Funds Act and abuse of power—were either found not guilty or dismissed."

[Lee Ju-hee / Floor Spokesperson of the Democratic Party: This proves that the suspicions of illegal investigations and coerced statements have been recognized to a significant extent. The true face of this ruthless political maneuvering has been exposed through the judicial judgment of dismissal.]

Floor Leader Han Byung-do emphasized, "As the court stated, the prosecution's clear abuse of indictment power confirms once again that the prosecution of the previous administration targeted President Lee Jae-myung and those around him, wielding their power to fabricate crimes that did not exist."

Regarding the guilty verdict on the "salmon drinking party" claims, the Democratic Party also stated that "the jury verdict was narrowly split 4 to 3," adding that "there is a need to re-examine the matter through an appeal."

(Video reporting: Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Park Ji-in | Design: Han Heung-soo, Jeon Yu-geun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.