National Assembly Saying No to Arrest of Lawmakers

The National Assembly decided not to allow prosecutors to arrest seven lawmakers although warrants for the lawmakers were issued in advance.

Now the seven lawmakers, Park Jae-wook, Park Joo-chun, Park Myoung-hwan and Choi Don-woong from the Grand National Party, Lee Hun-Pyung, Park Joo-sun from the Millennium Democratic Party, and Jung Dae-chul from the Uri Party, can breathe a sigh of relief for a while.

However, not only civic groups and the prosecution office but also fellow lawmakers are denouncing the result as “political selfishness” or a “political alliance of convenience.”

The vote to decide whether to allow prosecutors to arrest lawmaker Choi Don-woong, who received 10 billion won of illicit campaign money from SK Group, was rejected by a vote of 133 to 99. In the meantime, thanks to the vote of 159 to 71, lawmaker Jung Dae-chul, who is said to have taken 400 million won from Good Morning City, can walk freely for now.

Kim Ki-sik, director general of People`s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), said that the public would no longer tolerate brazen policy makers. “They have to be prepared for the worst scenario in the next general election,” Kim added.

Lawmaker Ham Seung-hee from the Millennium Democratic Party also lamented, “If the prosecution has to investigate someone like lawmaker Choi Don-woong without arresting him even though he took literally a truckful of illicit campaign money, who on earth should be the subject of the illegal campaign funds investigation?” Ham added that the real problem was how those who have said no to the arrest saw this event.

Meanwhile, although the National Assembly was scheduled to bring in National Election Commission Director Yoo Ji-dam to have a Q&A session concerning president Roh’s recent remark about the general election, the session was canceled as Yoo indicated that he would not attend.

The prosecution was cautious about the rejection. The Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office that sought arrest warrants for five of the seven lawmakers mentioned above said after hearing the result that it would cautiously consider how to deal with the situation.

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