South Korean prosecutors have requested an arrest warrant for the leader of the largest opposition party on suspicion of breach of trust during his time as mayor.
The largest opposition party has criticized the prosecution, calling it an "unprecedented outrage."
The Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office has requested an arrest warrant for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the largest opposition party, the Minjoo Party.
According to the prosecution, when Lee was the mayor of Seongnam, a city adjacent to Seoul, Lee made a land development business unfairly profitable to a contractor, resulting in about 490 billion won in damages, or about 50 billion yen in Japanese yen. It is said that there is a suspicion of betrayal of giving to the city, and a suspicion of providing benefits in return for a company that paid a sponsorship fee to a professional soccer club.
It is extremely unusual to request an arrest warrant for the representative of the largest opposition party, and each media reports extensively in breaking news.
Lee has appeared before the prosecution three times and denied wrongdoing.
In response to the request for the arrest warrant, the Democratic Party of Japan violently criticized the prosecution, saying, "This is an unprecedented outrageous attempt to neutralize the opposition party and eliminate the president's political opponents."
Since the arrest of Lee, who is a member of the National Assembly, requires the consent of the National Assembly, the arrest consent bill will be submitted to the National Assembly soon, but the "Democratic Party" has a majority of the seats, and the Korean media says it is unlikely that the arrest warrant will be passed.