Gwanak Police Station sought member voter list data, party says
By Yang Geun-hyuk, The Herald Business
The People Power Party pushed back strongly Sunday after police summoned the head of a firm that manages the party's membership data and sought to obtain party member voter lists used in local election primaries, vowing to "hold those responsible strictly accountable."
The PPP issued a statement under the name of Secretary-General Jeong Hee-yong on Sunday, saying it had confirmed that the Gwanak Police Station demanded submission of all "safe number" mapping data as well as records containing party member voters' names, regions, genders and actual contact information.
"The data in question is the foundation of party activities protected by the Constitution and a core organizational asset of our party," the PPP said. It called the attempt to pressure a witness into handing over member information — which it said falls outside the scope of the Public Official Election Act — "a serious abuse of power that tramples on party democracy, going beyond a mere misreading of the law."
The party said it sent an official letter to the Gwanak Police Station on June 25 requesting an explanation, and warned it would pursue legal action if police are confirmed to have pressured a witness by demanding an excessive volume of data with the aim of obtaining party information.
The PPP also said police had proceeded with their investigation on the assumption that the party's own "member safe numbers" — privately generated and provided to primary candidates to protect personal data — were identical to the mobile virtual numbers prescribed under the Public Official Election Act.
The party said the two systems are entirely different in legal basis, method of generation and intended purpose. The statutory mobile virtual numbers are issued by mobile carriers through the National Election Commission, while the member safe numbers are a separate, party-run system.
"Conducting an investigation without verifying even the most basic facts is enough to raise suspicion of either a serious legal misunderstanding on the part of the investigative agency or a deliberate distortion of the law," the PPP said. It added that it would pursue "all available legal means" against police, including potential application of criminal law provisions on distortion of the law, abuse of authority, coercion and unlawful evidence collection.
yg@heraldcorp.com
