Rep. Song Eon-seok, floor leader of the People Power Party, speaks at an emergency forum for the enactment of the Daejang-dong Criminal Proceeds Recovery Special Act at the National Assembly on the 24th. From left: Rep. Na Kyung-won, Leader Jang Dong-hyuk, and Floor Leader Song. Yonhap News

The People Power Party announced on the 24th that it would push for the 'Special Act on the Recovery of Daejang-dong Criminal Proceeds' as party policy, which aims to retroactively recover criminal proceeds from the Daejang-dong development corruption case.

Floor Leader Song Eon-seok attended the 'Emergency Forum for the Enactment of the Daejang-dong Criminal Proceeds Recovery Special Act' held at the National Assembly that day and said, "This special act is a law that responds to the era's demand for the recovery of criminal proceeds. The People Power Party will push for the enactment of this special act as party policy and do its best to ensure it is passed during this regular session of the National Assembly."

This special act was prepared to prevent hundreds of billions of won in criminal proceeds from being returned to the criminals, as only 47.3 billion won out of the 781.5 billion won in confiscation requested by the prosecution in the first trial of the Daejang-dong case was sentenced, and the prosecution waived its appeal.

The bill includes provisions to retroactively apply the law to fundamentally recover the full amount of Daejang-dong criminal proceeds that have already occurred, and to allow the state to file civil lawsuits. Furthermore, it allows for the recovery of all assets that are reasonably suspected of being Daejang-dong criminal proceeds.

Leader Jang Dong-hyuk said, "We must risk our lives to stop the predatory politics of the Lee Jae-myung administration, which enriches criminals. This special act will be the sharpest blade aimed at the heart of corrupt power," and added, "The party will put all its might into ensuring not even a single won of criminal proceeds remains in their pockets."

Rep. Na Kyung-won, a member of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, argued, "The reality of the Daejang-dong crime is that a profit of 788.6 billion won was made by investing 350 million won, achieving a profit rate of 115,000%. The Democratic Party talks as if all profits will be recovered through civil lawsuits, but if left as is, the 780 billion won profit cannot be recovered at all."

Rep. Na emphasized, "The core of this special act is the recognition of retroactive effect. Along with uncovering the truth of the crime, returning the Daejang-dong criminal proceeds to the people is what we must do."

Yonhap News