The People Power Party noted on the 31st that the source of 232 million won in illegal gambling funds linked to Lee Dong-ho, the son of Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea's presidential candidate, is suspicious and said it will file a complaint with the prosecution.
Director General Joo Jin-woo of the People Power Party's 'Lee Jae-myung family corruption investigation team' held a press conference at the National Assembly that morning and explained the reasons for the complaint by stating, 'The candidate's son has 3.9 million won in total assets and no fixed income, yet he engaged in a large amount of gambling.'
The investigation team decided to report Lee, his spouse Kim Hye-kyung, and his son Lee to the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office on charges of violating the tax law, money laundering prevention law, and public election law.
Joo stated, 'It can only be seen as a suspicious financial transaction, and despite having provided sufficient opportunity to clarify, the candidate has remained silent, which necessitates the filing of a complaint to uncover the truth,' adding, 'We will thoroughly investigate the suspicious funds whose source is unknown.'
He further pointed out that 'if a son uses the parents' money for gambling, it may constitute a gift tax evasion,' emphasizing that 'if cash was gifted, questions arise about where the cash came from. There is no explanation of when, where, and how the gift was made, or what the source of funds is.'
Additionally, upon analyzing Lee's indictment from the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, it was claimed that there are indications of a long-term pattern of habitual gambling, raising suspicions of 'addiction potential.'
Joo said, 'On the day of the funeral of Lee's grandmother on March 15, 2020, starting at 7 a.m. for about 11 hours, he engaged in illegal gambling and posted online that he planned to visit a massage parlor with gambling winnings.' He added, 'The next day, he posted a review online containing abusive language about the establishment.'
He continued, 'Even on July 1, 2021, the day Lee Jae-myung officially declared his candidacy for the 20th presidential election, Lee's gambling did not stop.' He noted that 'on November 3, 2021, when the candidate left a Facebook post asking for active consideration of additional disaster relief payments, Lee deposited 11.55 million won into his gambling account nine times.'
Joo also stated, 'The gambling that started at 3 a.m. on July 30, 2020, continued until 6 p.m. the following day, during which a total of 5.43 million won was deposited into the gambling site over 31 instances,' asserting that 'the act of 'marathon gambling' is not merely an outlier, but a typical aspect of severe gambling addiction.'
He criticized, 'While calling to support struggling small business owners and self-employed individuals with disaster relief funds, he deposited 11.55 million won, which is equivalent to several months' salary for ordinary citizens, into gambling.'
Furthermore, Joo pointed out, 'A Democratic Party lawmaker proposed the 'Lee Jae-myung family defamation prevention law,' indicating that it aims to expand sanctions indefinitely in a trivial manner.'
The law mentioned by Joo appears to refer to an amendment proposed by Democratic Party lawmaker Jo In-cheol.
Lawmaker Jo recently proposed an amendment to the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, which defines the generation and distribution of false manipulated information for the purpose of political or economic gain for oneself or a third party as illegal information, inciting crimes such as riots and terrorism.