Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, speaks on the 19th at the Cheongdam-dong building in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, for which lawyer Nam Wook requested the lifting of seizure and preservation orders. Yonhap News

The People Power Party held a rally on the 19th in front of the Cheongdam-dong building owned by lawyer Nam Wook, who is currently on trial after being arrested on suspicion of corruption in the Daejang-dong development case. They condemned the prosecution's decision to drop the appeal and urged the recovery of criminal proceeds.

At the rally that day, leader Jang Dong-hyuk criticized, "Dropping the Daejang-dong appeal is a crime that destroyed people's livelihoods using state power," adding, "It is a serious crime to return 780 billion won, which should have been used for people's livelihoods, to criminals."

He continued, "If we cannot recover all of this money, the criminals who participated in dropping the appeal must disgorge the 780 billion won," and stated, "The People Power Party will strive until the end to recover the 780 billion won."

Representative Na Kyung-won said, "Yesterday, I proposed the Special Act on the Recovery of Criminal Proceeds. I do not believe it is the realization of judicial justice for criminals to flaunt their illicit gains as their own assets," adding, "We will definitely push for the special law and rectify the distortion of judicial justice."

Representative Bae Hyun-jin, who chairs the Seoul chapter of the party, pointed out, "Accomplices and perpetrators of this magical fraud are attempting to cash out this money as their own assets," and warned, "The money that should have been returned to the people is in danger of being squandered on the lavish lifestyles of thieves."

The 780 billion won in criminal proceeds that the People Power Party is urging to be recovered is the amount the prosecution considers the damages incurred by Seongnam City due to the Daejang-dong case. The People Power Party points out that the prosecution's decision to drop the appeal has blocked the path to recovering most of the damages, excluding the 47.3 billion won ordered for confiscation in the first trial.

In fact, lawyer Nam, who was excluded from the first trial's confiscation order, is demanding the lifting of seizure and preservation orders placed by the prosecution on his assets worth tens of billions of won, including the Cheongdam-dong building.

Yonhap News