Are 44 percent of South Korea's Democratic Party lawmakers considered criminals? No, that's not true: Of the party's elected members who have criminal records, only 16 percent committed deeds considered illegal both under past military rule and now. The remaining 84 percent have records for activities that are now considered legal, such as advocating for labor rights and democratization. A former party leader did suggest that 44 percent of his party's lawmakers have criminal records, but he later apologized for a misunderstanding and clarified his remarks.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok by @user8237319234184 on January 9, 2024, with the caption (translated from Korean to English by Lead Stories staff):
The reason Lee Nak-yeon is leaving his party is that 44% of them are criminals
The video includes an interview with former Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Nak-yeon on channel UBC (archived here) on January 8, 2024, who, while criticizing his former party, said (as translated):
The Democratic Party has a total of 167 lawmakers, right? and 68 out of 167, which is approximately 44%, have criminal records.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri Jan 26 04:46:28 2024 UTC
Lee cited a press release (archived here) from a civic group called the Citizen's Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ). However, in his interview, he neglected to provide important context from the report, which stated that most criminal records were due to violations committed during South Korea's military rule, when activities related to democratization and workers' right were prohibited.
The CCEJ report found that of 68 DP lawmakers with criminal records, 41 of them have records related to their work in the pro-democracy activist movement, while 27 lawmakers received criminal records for other reasons. As of early February 2024, DP holds 164 seats in Parliament. However, at the moment Lee made his original comment, it was 167.
Lee was heavily criticized for his remarks by members of the party and its supporters. For example, Jeong Sung-ho, a DP lawmaker, told CBS radio, (archived here) (starting at the 1:40 mark of the video) (as translated):
I was really upset about the remark. As far as I know, CCEJ checked all the lawmakers who have any kind of criminal record and found that without records related to charges for democratization and labor rights activism, the number dropped to 16%. Don't you think he [Lee Nak-yeon] got his place, thanks to the sacrifices of those activists? He gained the most from those sacrifices and just walked all the way on the red carpet.
Lee apologized for the remark on his Facebook account (archived here) on January 9, 2024, the day after his interview (as translated):
I said 44% of the Democratic Party lawmakers have criminal records and cited data from a civic group. However, the actual ratio is 41%, not 44%. Moreover, that number includes lots of cases made while they struggled for democratization or workers' rights. It was my mistake for not clarifying that fact when I spoke. I highly appreciate the sacrifice of the democratic heroes, as I always did. I deeply apologize for the remark.
