Kim Kwang-min, the attorney for Lee Hwa-young, the former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor imprisoned in the Ssangbangwool illegal remittance case to North Korea, wrote on Facebook around 7:18 p.m. on the 10th, “I am enduring this with the mindset of cultivating virtue, so do not provoke me.”
Kim’s remarks are interpreted as dissatisfaction with negative reactions from Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers regarding his call for Lee’s parole. Kim Han-gyu, the Democratic Party’s floor policy chief deputy representative, stated on CBS Radio on the 9th, “While some view Lee as a victim of politically motivated prosecution, there are also personal misconduct allegations. There is no consensus within the party, and the parole requirements are not met.”
On the same day, Park Gyun-taek, a Democratic Party lawmaker, said, “Parole is impossible as the requirements are not fulfilled.” Park Ji-won, another Democratic Party lawmaker, added, “As the vice minister of justice answered during the parliamentary audit on the 8th, Lee does not meet the parole criteria.”
Kim, in a media interview on the 7th, stated, “Lee Hwa-young is extremely angry” and urged parole. The next day, Lee publicly released a prison letter clarifying, “Kim’s claims do not reflect my true intentions,” prompting Kim to say, “I will not speak further,” while adding, “The truth will naturally surface over time.”
Meanwhile, Kim has expressed positions aligned with anti-Nom faction or hardline Democratic Party members on political issues. On the 11th morning, he criticized Kim Min-seok, the Democratic Party leader, on Facebook, stating, “Questions in the National Assembly are not insubordination,” implying that Kim Min-seok was blocking the party’s verification of Kim Ji-yong, the Serious Crime Investigation Agency chief nominee. On the 10th, he also wrote, “Internal party conflicts should be managed by the leader, and the president should mediate from above—this is the basic principle of party-government relations. However, Kim Min-seok is doing the opposite.”
Kim also criticized President Lee Jae Myung’s recent remarks. On the 9th, he wrote on Facebook regarding President Lee’s reference to so-called “Mugeukpa” (irresponsible extremists), “If HR authorities label those opposing the nomination of Kim Ji-yong as extremists, debates will be settled by force, not logic.”
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