DP Says Pres. Yoon’s Calls with Ex-Defense Minister Constitute Abuse of Authority

The main opposition Democratic Party(DP) says that President Yoon Suk Yeol calling then-defense minister Lee Jong-sup on his cell phone three times on the day the Marine Corps investigation team gave police its initial findings of a probe into the death of a Marine constitutes abuse of authority.  

DP Rep. Jung Chung-rae, who is a member of the party’s Supreme Council, said during a council meeting on Wednesday that he believes such a fact is a smoking gun proving the allegations that the top office interfered in the investigation of the Marine’s death last year.

He then said he can’t help but wonder if the latest fact will be considered a “second tablet,” as he referred to a tablet computer that he dubbed “the smoking gun and the trigger” that led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye. 

Also on Wednesday, the DP held a protest in front of the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul to denounce the president’s move to veto a bill calling for a special counsel probe into a report on the Marine’s death. 

DP floor leader Park Chan-dae said Yoon vetoed the bill and impeded the investigation to hide his crime, committing a serious crime of abusing one’s authority.