'The premise of the allegation has disappeared,' Democratic Party spokesperson says
The Democratic Party of Korea on Friday called on the People Power Party to stop its political offensive over the withdrawal of indictments as President Lee Jae Myung held a press conference on current affairs.
Jeon Eun-su, the Democratic Party's floor spokesperson, said in a statement that President Lee "made his position clear at Friday's press conference regarding the so-called 'indictment withdrawal' controversy."
At the press conference, Lee was asked about a provision in the proposed "fabricated indictment" special prosecutor bill that would grant the special prosecutor authority to withdraw existing indictments. He responded by asking the National Assembly to delete clauses related to the transfer and disposition of previously indicted cases from the bill's scope of authority and to focus solely on uncovering the truth. "Please take measures to prevent unnecessary controversy over the withdrawal of indictments from arising," he said.
Jeon said the PPP had "blown up baseless allegations and framed the president as trying to use the special prosecutor to make his own trials disappear." The president had himself requested the deletion of the very clause that had fueled the controversy, she added. "The premise on which the allegations rested has now disappeared," she said.
Jeon went on to say the PPP should "stop confusing the public with claims that do not reflect the facts," warning that continuing the same offensive even after the president had clarified his position would amount to "political strife for its own sake, not a pursuit of the truth."
She added that the PPP should "stop this wasteful political offensive and actively cooperate in uncovering the truth about prosecutors' indiscriminate investigations, which is the real issue at the heart of this matter."
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