Prosecutor Park Sang-yong Refuses Witness Oath as Lee Hwa-young Alleges False Statements in North Korea Remittances Case

According to The Financial News, fierce debate broke out at the Special Parliamentary Committee for Fact-Finding on Suspicions of Politically Motivated Prosecution and Manipulated Indictment by the Yoon Suk Yeol Administration over the Ssangbangwool Group’s alleged remittances to North Korea. Following his earlier refusal to take the oath during an institutional briefing, Prosecutor Park Sang-yong again declined to be sworn in at this hearing, while former Vice Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province Lee Hwa-young testified that prosecutors had fabricated false statements, triggering heated exchanges between the ruling and opposition parties.
The special committee convened the hearing on the North Korea remittances case on the 14th and summoned Prosecutor Park as a witness, but ultimately failed to have him take the oath and ordered him to leave. Committee Chair Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party of Korea rebuked Prosecutor Park, instructing him to submit a written explanation, while Park insisted he would explain his position orally, leading to a tense standoff.
Before appearing, Prosecutor Park Sang-yong wrote on social media that he was refusing the witness oath because "the ultimate purpose is to prevent a special prosecutor from dropping the indictment against President Lee Jae-myung." He added, "If, after this parliamentary inquiry, a special prosecutor law is deemed necessary, then introduce it. But under no circumstances should a special prosecutor be allowed to dismiss the indictment against the president." These were the same reasons he had given for his previous refusal to take the oath.
The People Power Party (PPP) defended Prosecutor Park’s decision as his legal right. Representative Yoon Sang-hyun stated, "Under the Act on Testimony and Appraisal before the National Assembly, a witness may refuse to take the oath if there is a concern about criminal prosecution or the filing of charges, and may also provide an explanation." Representative Na Kyung-won likewise stressed, "Under the Criminal Procedure Act and the National Assembly Act, he has the right to refuse the oath based on the principle against self-incrimination."
In response, Park Sung-joon, the Democratic Party of Korea’s secretary on the special committee, shot back, "Are the PPP members acting as spokespersons for Prosecutor Park Sang-yong? He came here thinking he would commit perjury because he believes it would be dangerous if all the facts came to light." He continued, "PPP members should be saying that it is only proper for Prosecutor Park to take the witness oath in a fair and square manner."
The Democratic Party of Korea argues that, during the investigation into the North Korea remittances, Prosecutor Park attempted to sway former Vice Governor Lee by holding a "salmon-and-liquor party" while questioning him. Prosecutor Park denied this allegation at last year’s legislative hearing on prosecution reform and during the National Assembly’s audit, and the Democratic Party later filed a criminal complaint against him on suspicion of perjury.
Commenting on this, Representative Na Kyung-won argued, "Prosecutor Park has become a suspect according to the Democratic Party’s script and has been placed under a travel ban. They are trying to fabricate the case and have the indictment against President Lee dismissed."
Former Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young appeared before the special committee that day, took the witness oath, and testified that prosecutors had drafted multiple false statements and coerced his testimony.
He stated, "The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office drafted many interview reports and other documents falsely—more than 100 in total, as confirmed by the Human Rights Violation Inspection Task Force of the Seoul High Public Prosecutors' Office." He went on, "For example, the interview report forms are identical, and the signatures of Kim Sung-tae, former chair of Ssangbangwool Group, and myself all appear in the same format." He added, "Whenever I went to the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, they kept pressuring me to give false testimony, and it became unbearable for me."
In rebuttal, Prosecutor Kim Young-nam, who at the time led the investigation team as Chief Prosecutor of the 6th Criminal Division at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, stated, "We left written interrogation records when necessary, and when we did not prepare such records, we instructed that written statements of facts be drafted instead." He added, "To my knowledge, we also prepared confrontation records."

uknow@fnnews.com Kim Yoon-ho Reporter