President Lee Jae-myung stated following the acquittal of former Democratic Party lawmaker Roh Woong-rae in his second-trial regarding allegations of receiving bribes and illegal political funds, "I will definitely build a country where innocent citizens never fall victim to the abuse of state power again."

Following the court ruling yesterday (the 21st), President Lee wrote on social media, referring to former lawmaker Roh as "Senior Roh, who was indicted by political prosecutors and stripped of his political career by his own party." He added, "Unless you were the person involved, can you even imagine how agonizingly unfair it must have been?"

While undergoing trial over suspicions including the acceptance of bribes, former lawmaker Roh was cut from nominations during the 2024 general election when President Lee was the leader of the Democratic Party.

President Lee recalled, "Although he avoided detention, he became the prey of persistent political prosecutors and was indicted, driven into the corner of a corruption offender," adding, "With tears in my eyes, I had no choice but to exclude Roh from the nominations."

In response, independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, who served as Minister of Justice at the time, posted on social media, "We must not mislead the public into thinking that former lawmaker Roh was unfairly investigated and tried."

Han explained, "He was not acquitted because it was revealed that he actually did not take the money. He was acquitted for the formal reason of the exclusion of evidence collected through illegal means."

Han also emphasized that former lawmaker Roh "partially admitted to receiving the money on that day during the court trial stage."

(Photo: Yonhap News)