Hospitalized for sixth day, PPP leader posts on social media demanding resumption of President Lee's trial
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok, hospitalized for a sixth consecutive day due to deteriorating health, said Monday that lawmakers who "humiliated witnesses and reference persons" during a parliamentary investigation must be held legally accountable, and called for the immediate impeachment of Justice Minister Jeong Seong-ho. The remarks came in response to a court ruling that found allegations of a so-called "salmon drinking party," raised by former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young, to be false.
Jang made the remarks in a Facebook post, writing that "the salmon drinking party is the most horrific case of manipulation and incitement in the history of the Republic of Korea," and that "if this case is allowed to pass without consequence, there is no tomorrow for this country."
Jang had been focused on recovering at the hospital since late last week. He resumed his offensive against the ruling camp Monday through the social media post.
"The salmon party coup has failed," he wrote, saying the Democratic Party had "piled up countless misdeeds" — including dropping an appeal in the Daejang-dong case, introducing a law-distortion offense, creating a de facto fourth-instance review system, expanding the Supreme Court bench, and dismantling the prosecution — all on the basis of what a court has now found to be fabricated allegations. He challenged the Democratic Party, asking whether it intended to "defy even the people's verdict."
Jang added that "the final destination Lee Jae Myung and the Democratic Party had in mind with the salmon party was a 'withdrawal of indictment,'" and that such a withdrawal was now "completely off the table." "If they refuse to give up on withdrawing the indictment," he said, "the only path left for President Lee Jae Myung is impeachment."
bigroot@heraldcorp.com
