DP to recommend departure to 12 lawmakers suspected of land speculation

Jun 09, 2021, 08:19 am

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DP Chairman Rep. Song Young-gil attends a closed meeting of the Supreme Council held at the National Assembly in Seoul on June 8, 2021.

AsiaToday reporter Jeong Geum-min

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) has decided to demand 12 of its lawmakers leave the party, Tuesday, a day after they or their family members were accused of alleged real estate speculation by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC). Among the 12, the party will arbitrarily expel two of their membership as they hold proportional representation seats, while it will withdraw 10 others from the party. The accused lawmakers include Kim Joo-young, Kim Hwe-jae, Moon Jin-seok, Youn Mi-hyang, Kim Han-jeong, Seo Young-seok, Lim Jong-seong, Yang Yi Won-young, Oh Young-hoon, Yoon Jae-gap, Kim Soo-heung, and Woo Sang-ho.

“During an earlier party convention, we pledged the party would sternly deal with any speculation, and the Supreme Council members today held a discussion and decided to recommend all 12 involved in speculation leave the party,” DP spokesperson Rep. Koh Yong-jin said.

“Usually, it is normal to wait until the results of an investigation come out. However, public rage over housing and land speculation is running extremely high and public opinion critical of politicians’ hypocritical behavior is grave. That’s the reality,” he said.

“As a result, the party cannot help taking preemptive measures with regard to land speculation issues,” the spokesman said. “It may be an excessive preemptive action by the not-guilty-until-proven standard, but the DP expects the lawmakers to lay down their status as ruling party legislators to fairly undergo investigations as independents so that they can clear away public distrust,” he added. This means that lawmakers who have been removed from the party cannot return to the party until an investigation agency concludes that they are innocent.

On the other hand, the accused lawmakers complained about it, claiming the move was unjust. Six of them were found to be personally involved in real estate speculation and illicit deals, while other six lawmakers were found to be involved in suspicious transactions along with their relatives, including spouses.

Lawmaker Woo Sang-ho issued a statement, saying, “My mother, who was battling cancer, passed away suddenly on June 9, 2013, and I had to urgently seek land for cemetery. Since that, all the administrative procedures have been completed. I cannot accept the result of judging it as a violation of Farmland Act.”

Lawmaker Yoon Mi-hyang also issued a statement, claiming that she bought a house under her husband’s name in the process of purchasing a house for her mother-in-law. She said she took into account the fact that her mother-in-law was elderly. She explained that the house was given to the name of the mother-in-law from the name of her husband last year, in accordance with the party’s one-family-one-house policy.

Previously, the DP requested the ACRC to conduct an investigation into real estate transactions made by 816 people, including 174 DP lawmakers and their family members. The ACRC announced the results of the investigation.

#DP #land speculation #departure #Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission