PPP Launches Offensive Over Lee Yong-cheol's Alleged Venue Rental for Unified Progressive Party
The People Power Party focused its offensive during a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly on the 12th, citing suspicions that Justice Minister nominee Lee Yong-cheol had rented out a building for a Unified Progressive Party event, as well as the controversy over his law firm's representation of presidential office First Deputy Chief of Staff Kim Hyun-ji in a criminal case.
Supreme Council member Shin Dong-wook noted at the same meeting that the nominee had served as CEO of the Seongnam Industry Promotion Foundation when Lee Jae-myung was mayor of Seongnam. He claimed that according to reports, a resolution rally attended by 300 people in support of former Unified Progressive Party lawmaker Lee Seok-ki was held at the foundation's building at 9 p.m. on March 8 and May 3, 2012, during the nominee's tenure as CEO. Shin pointed out that the 'Song of Revolutionary Comrades' was sung at the rally, and took issue with the nominee's explanation that he did not remember the event as it was an administrative matter. He further raised suspicions that the nominee must have played an important role from that point onward, citing the fact that many figures from the Unified Progressive Party camp, along with the nominee, participated in President Lee Jae-myung's mayoral transition committee.
The fact that the law firm where the nominee served as lead lawyer took on the criminal case of Deputy Chief of Staff Kim Hyun-ji was also cited as grounds for suspicions of a 'Seongnam connection.' In a statement, chief spokesperson Choi Bo-yoon pointed out that over 33 years, the nominee had only handled 258 civil cases and 10 criminal cases either as lead attorney or as sole counsel, highlighting his lack of expertise in criminal justice. He also repeatedly cited the fact that the nominee gave a rival candidate 76 points and Yoo Dong-kyu, a key figure in the Daejang-dong scandal, 90 points in an employment review, as grounds for suspicions of the nominee's involvement in the Daejang-dong case.
