Leading candidate expresses regret over parliamentary rejection of Chung’s arrest


Park Geun-hye, top presidential candidate of the Saenuri Party, apologized to the public on Friday for the parliamentary rejection of an arrest motion for ruling party lawmaker Chung Doo-un who faces corruption charges.

She urged Chung to bear responsibility and face the prosecutorial probe, as the incident is casting a cloud over her campaign for the December presidential election.

“I am sincerely sorry that the arrest motion did not pass the parliament,” Park told reporters before attending a general meeting of Saenuri lawmakers.

“The party pledged to give up its privileges and to humbly serve the people, but failed to keep that promise.”

Party chief Rep. Hwang Woo-yea also offered his apology in a news conference after the meeting.

Park was originally scheduled to visit her hometown Daegu on Friday to meet with voters but abruptly changed her plans on Thursday night, considering the urgency of the situation, officials said.

“Rep. Chung has always spoken of reform and, based on such beliefs, should face the given charges (regardless of his parliamentary right to refuse arrest),” she said.

The presidential hopeful urged him to resolve the current crisis himself and not to cause further trouble to the party’s campaign.

Floor leader Rep. Lee Hahn-koo and other pro-Park figures even demanded that Chung leave the party.

The party issued a warning on the beleaguered lawmaker demanding that he take appropriate measures himself.

“The party has no choice but to take a certain measure unless he does so,” party spokesperson Kim Young-woo said, indicating that expulsion may be an option.

The prosecution earlier submitted a request to the National Assembly to consent to Chung’s arrest for the allegations that he colluded in the bribery scandal involving Lee Sang-deuk, former lawmaker and elder brother of President Lee Myung-bak.

According to prosecutors, Chung was present at the scene when Lee Sang-deuk took 300 million won ($261,000) from a savings bank chief and loaded the money into his car.

Lee was arrested on Tuesday, becoming the first-ever sibling of an incumbent president to face detention.

The arrest motion was put to a vote in the plenary session on Wednesday but failed to gain the required majority quorum.

The result came as a heavy blow to Park as she had repeatedly pledged to abolish the lawmakers’ immunity from arrest while the National Assembly is in session.

Reflecting the concerns that the consequential public backlash may impede Park’s presidential bid, pro-Park floor leader Rep. Lee offered his resignation shortly after the motion was rejected.

“I understand that Rep. Lee seeks to take the due responsibility as the party’s floor leader,” Park said. “It is, however, also his duty to deal with pending bills and inter-party communication.”

Amid escalating controversies, Chung offered to respond to the prosecution’s summoning as soon as the current plenary session ends.

“I have always made it clear that I will fully cooperate with the prosecutorial probe,” the lawmaker told reporters through a statement via mobile phone on Friday.

“None of my fellow lawmakers who voted against the arrest motion meant to rely on the immunity privilege and dodge investigation.”

The third-term lawmaker has been a key reformer of the right-wing party and an outspoken critic of the establishment in the government and party.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)