Flight risk cited in arrest warrant request for Kang Sun-woo, an unusually harsh assessment for a sitting lawmaker with much to lose

[Financial News] Police have reportedly cited a risk of flight in the arrest warrant request for independent lawmaker Kang Sun-woo, who is under suspicion of taking a 100 million won nomination bribe.
When courts decide whether to issue an arrest warrant, they mainly consider the seriousness of the alleged crime, the risk of evidence being destroyed, and the risk that the suspect might flee. For sitting members of the National Assembly, it has generally been assumed that there is little risk of flight, because their faces are well known and they have much to lose given their social status.
According to Yonhap News Agency on the 13th, police broke with this usual practice and concluded in the arrest warrant application that they could not rule out the possibility that Kang might flee.
They judged that the allegations have been continuously exposed to the public, that she is facing widespread criticism and outrage, and that a prison sentence appears likely in light of the investigation and trial to come. On that basis, they argued there is a risk she might deliberately go into hiding.
At the same time, police are said to have listed past cases in which lawmakers actually fled.
As one example, they pointed to former lawmaker Hwang Joo-hong of the Party for Democracy and Peace. During the 21st general election, Hwang was under investigation for violating the Public Official Election Act. In June 2020, he ignored a summons from prosecutors and went into hiding for three months before being arrested.
The late former lawmaker Kim Beom-myeong of the New Korea Party also fled. In August 2000, while under investigation on charges of taking large bribes in return for tax breaks, in violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, he left for China to evade the probe. He voluntarily returned that October, but by then the investigation had already been significantly delayed.
“These cases show that even incumbent politicians who have served as two-term lawmakers or as standing committee chairs have, in order to avoid trial and investigation, gone on the run,” police stated, adding, “In Kang’s case as well, the possibility that she might flee cannot be completely ruled out.”
y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter