On September 21, South Korean lawmakers voted to approve a detention petition against Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, the largest opposition party. That is, it agreed that the prosecution would detain Lee Jae-ming for review.
The result caused a big stir because the Democratic Party of Korea has a majority in the South Korean parliament, more than half. In other words, if the members of the Democratic Party vote against the detention order, it will completely protect Lee from detention.
But the vote showed that 29 MPs from the Democratic Party voted for Lee's detention.
South Korea's National Assembly passed an application for Lee's detention
Why is this the case?
This can be analyzed from two questions.
The first question, why was Lee Jae-myung investigated? What does his recent hunger strike have to do with being investigated?
Lee Jae-myung is a very famous leftist politician in South Korea, he came from a humble background, was forced to work part-time since he was a child, and after hard work, he was admitted to the law department of Chung-Ang University in South Korea, became a human rights lawyer after graduation, also participated in social activities, and then entered politics, serving as the mayor of Seongnam City and the governor of Gyeonggi Province.
In these positions, Lee has adopted some radical leftist policies, such as cutting government spending and opening city government buildings to citizens.
In 2017 and 2022, he ran for president twice. Among them, last year's contestant lost to Yoon Seok-yue by a narrow margin. He then ran successfully for the leadership of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of the United Democratic Party.
Lee Jae-myung
Lee Jae-myung is a typical leftist politician, in contrast to the typical rightist (conservative) Yoon Seok-yue's domestic and foreign affairs.
After Yoon Seok-hyeol came to power, Lee Jae-myung and other leftists believed that the Yoon Seok-hyeol government had done nothing economically, and that the South Korean economy had become worse, and arranged a large number of people with prosecutors to hold important positions (Yoon Seok-hyeol himself was also a prosecutor), and emphasized relations with Japan and the United States in diplomacy against South Korean interests, so they constantly criticized the Yoon Seok-hyeol government.
Since last year, South Korea's prosecutor's office has also begun investigating Mr. Lee and accused him of malfeasance and corruption, mainly by taking care of a private developer when he was mayor of Seongnam and pressuring a company to come up with $8 million, part of which was used to visit North Korea.
Because Lee Jae-myung is a member of the National Assembly, according to South Korean law, to detain a member of parliament, it must be approved by the president, and after approval, it will be voted on by the National Assembly.
In February 2023, the prosecutor proposed to detain Lee Jae-myung, and the Congress voted on it, and the result of that vote rejected the detention application, that is, to save Lee Zaiming.
But South Korean prosecutors re-investigated Mr. Lee this summer, and according to the prosecution's schedule, the investigation ended around September 10, after which they began to apply for his detention.
Mr. Lee and his camp believe that such investigations are all persecution of political opponents by Yoon's government. Lee began a hunger strike on August 31 on the grounds that Yoon Seok-yue's government had ineffective economic policies, dictatorship in domestic politics, and that Japan had not released nuclear-polluted water into the sea.
Conservatives and some neutrals in South Korea believe that Lee Jae-myung, who knows that the schedule of his investigation will probably end around September 10, began a hunger strike at this time in order to create an atmosphere of pathos, to evade legal sanctions, and to politicize legal issues.
Therefore, the South Korean prosecutor ignored Lee Jae-myung's hunger strike and hospitalization, continued to investigate him according to the original schedule, and also issued an application for his detention.
Hunger strike
The second question is, why did the CDP not keep Lee Jae-myung in Congress?
There is public opinion analysis in South Korea, which may be for two reasons
First, the composition of the Democratic Party of Korea is already more complex, with moderate leftists, centrist leftists, and radical leftists, and it is impossible for them to act completely in unison. And in the case of a long-term investigation by South Korean prosecutors, some Democratic Party lawmakers may believe that Lee may indeed have a problem.
Second, Lee Jae-ming's own attitude is uncertain. At first, Lee Jae-ming was more confident, saying that although he was a member of parliament, if the prosecutor wanted to detain him, he would give up this congressional protection right and go to court to prove his innocence and prove that it was persecution of him by the ruling party.
But after Yoon approved the detention order, Lee Jae-myung, who was on hunger strike, called on members of the Democratic Party to vote against the order, meaning that he still wanted protection from his own party.
This attitude may be difficult for some MPs to feel unsure, and they may also have an opinion of him.
So in the end, the CDP did not protect Lee from detention.
Congressional staff are counting votes
So what will be the fate of Lee Jae-myung and the CDP now?
After Congress passes the bill, the court will hold a hearing to decide whether to detain Lee for review, and given the current situation, he is likely to be detained for review.
And South Korean media revealed that prosecutorial documents show that if Lee is convicted, he will be sentenced to at least 11 years in prison, and at most life imprisonment.
Judging from these factors, Li Zaiming's political future is not optimistic.
As for the Democratic Party, it can also be seen from this vote that the composition of the party is very complicated, and because it has not kept its leader, the top of the party has resigned en masse. The Democratic Party is likely to reorganize next (reorganization of political parties in South Korea is more common and frequent).
The biggest goal of the opposition parties now is to retain the majority party in the parliamentary elections next April. In order to achieve this goal
The CDP can also take this opportunity to regroup with other opposition parties to strengthen unity and win the parliamentary elections next April. (Qian Kejin)