Acting Prosecutor General Lee Jeong-hyeon: "No Review of Dropping Indictment Against President Lee"

Acting Prosecutor General Lee Jeong-hyeon (Deputy Prosecutor General of the Public Prosecution Service) stated that there has been no review of dropping the indictment in the criminal case involving President Lee Jae-myung.

During today's (the 22nd) parliamentary audit of the Public Prosecution Service headquarters by the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Acting Chief Lee answered "We have not reviewed it" when asked by People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Kyu-taek whether the prosecution intends to drop the indictment for President Lee's criminal case.

Lawmaker Kwak took issue with Acting Chief Lee's remarks during his first commute to work last month. At the time, in response to reporters' questions regarding dropping the indictment against President Lee, Acting Chief Lee said, "A fact-finding investigation is underway by the Prosecution Human Rights Respect Future Committee's fact-finding team, so we will need to examine those results."

At the time, Acting Chief Lee's response sparked controversy as it was interpreted to mean that an actual review of dropping the indictment could take place based on the fact-finding team's investigation results and the Future Committee's judgment.

The Future Committee's fact-finding team has selected 19 cases, including the Ssangbangwool illegal remittance to North Korea case, the Daejang-dong development scandal, and suspicions related to Baekhyeon-dong and Wirye New Town, and is investigating whether there were any illegalities during the investigation process.

Among these, 8 cases are directly or indirectly related to President Lee.

Acting Chief Lee explained, "My remarks during the doorstepping (informal Q&A) session at the time were merely a statement of an in-principle stance that since investigation procedures were underway by the fact-finding team, we would watch the results."

He added, "How could I possibly venture to say whether or not we would drop an indictment based on hypothetical matters, not only in the National Assembly but in any setting?"

He continued, "I want to make it clear that it was an expression of an extremely in-principle stance, that we have never reviewed dropping the indictment, and that no other intentions are involved whatsoever."

On the 15th, the Future Committee's fact-finding team reported the results of its investigation into three cases—the Wirye New Town development scandal, the Moon Jae-in administration's statistics manipulation, and the West Sea fisheries official shooting—stating that there were no illegalities found during the investigation process.

The Future Committee requested supplementary investigations from the fact-finding team and plans to hold another meeting on the 29th.

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