Rep. Song Eon-seog, interim leader of the main opposition People Power Party, on Friday accused the Lee Jae Myung administration and the ruling Democratic Party of seeking to “annihilate” the opposition through politically motivated measures — from deploying special counsel investigations targeting PPP lawmakers to pushing a parliamentary resolution calling for their expulsion.
“This is a declaration by the Lee administration to complete one-party rule by using the special counsels and the Democratic Party to obliterate the opposition,” Song said during a press conference at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul.
This came after a search and seizure operation conducted earlier in the day by the special counsel team led by Min Joong-ki, which is investigating allegations involving former first lady Kim Keon Hee. The team searched the office of Rep. Kim Sun-gyo of the People Power Party.
Rep. Kim is under investigation in connection with alleged preferential treatment linked to Kim Keon Hee’s family in a land development project in Gongheung, located in his constituency of Yeoju and Yangpyeong in Gyeonggi Province.
According to Song, the raid on Kim marked the fifth such search involving a PPP lawmaker.
Earlier in the month, the Min-led team raided the offices of Reps. Yoon Sang-hyun and Kweon Seong-dong as part of a probe into whether former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife intervened in the candidate nominations for the 2022 by-elections.
A separate special counsel team, led by Lee Myung-hyun, also raided the offices of Reps. Lim Jong-deuk and Lee Chul-kyu — both PPP lawmakers — in the same month. The raid was part of the team's investigation over the death of Marine Cpl. Chae Su-geun during a flood rescue operation last year, focusing on whether senior military officials were pressured by political figures, including former President Yoon, to suppress internal reports related to Chae’s case.
“We strongly denounce the politically motivated, indiscriminate raids carried out by these politically-motivated special counsels,” Song said.
Song also claimed the timing of the raids suggests a political motive.
“Special counsels are launching raids every Friday — they know lawmakers typically return to their constituencies on that day. These are clearly political raids, deliberately timed,” he said.
Song further criticized the scope of the investigations, saying they target only the opposition.
“Rep. Ahn Gyu-back of the Democratic Party allegedly had a 14-minute phone call with the former Marine division commander (regarding Chae’s case), and he is now nominated to serve as defense minister. Why hasn’t his office been searched?” Song said.
He also denounced a resolution submitted earlier in the day by Rep. Park Chan-dae of the Democratic Party — a candidate in the party's leadership race — calling for the expulsion of 45 People Power Party lawmakers from the Assembly.
He said the lawmakers attempted to block the execution of an arrest warrant for former President Yoon by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in front of the presidential residence in Yongsan-gu on Jan. 6.
The People Power Party holds 107 seats out of 298 at the National Assembly, which is slightly above the one-third needed to block Constitutional amendments.
“This is nothing less than a declaration to annihilate the opposition altogether,” Song said.
Song went on to suggest the resolution was retaliatory, pointing to the opposition’s recent decision to refer Rep. Kang Sun-woo of the Democratic Party to the Assembly's ethics committee following her withdrawal from the gender equality minister nomination amid allegations of mistreating her aides.
“There are voices saying Rep. Park’s resolution was retaliation for our ethics referral of Rep. Kang,” he said.
“Others see it as a political move to appeal to Democratic Party members ahead of the leadership race, especially since Park is seen as weaker than his rival Rep. Jung Chung-rae.”
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