South Korean opposition leader indicted for alleged corruption

South Korea’s opposition leader Lee Jae-myung has been indicted on corruption charges related to real estate developments and a football club he oversaw during a stint as a city mayor.

Lee, the leader of the left-leaning Democratic Party, faces charges including bribery, breach of duty, conflict of interest and concealment of criminal proceeds stemming from his time as mayor of Seongnam, South Korea’s state-funded Yonhap News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office announced the charges following an 18-month investigation into a 1.5 trillion won ($1.15bn) construction project in Seongnam, located about 20km south of Seoul.

Prosecutors allege that Lee, who served as mayor of Seongnam from 2010-2018, colluded with real estate developers when he was mayor to help them pocket 800 billion won ($611.5m), inflicting losses of nearly 490 million won on the city.

Lee is also accused of soliciting bribes from a number of companies to fund the city’s struggling football club in exchange for preferential government treatment.

Lee, who lost last year’s presidential election to chief prosecutor-turned-politician Yoon Suk-yeol, has denied wrongdoing and cast himself as the victim of a political vendetta orchestrated by the conservative government.

Lee told a Democratic Party meeting on Wednesday that his indictment was “not surprising at all”.

“As I have repeated many times, the indictment had already been determined,” Lee said, according to Yonhap.

Prosecutors last month failed in a bid to arrest Lee after the National Assembly, where the Democratic Party holds a commanding majority, narrowly voted against stripping him of his immunity from arrest as a sitting politician.

While Lee only lost to Yoon by a razor margin in last year’s presidential poll, the allegations against him have dented his popularity.

In a poll commissioned by the state broadcaster KBS earlier this month, nearly 54 percent of respondents said Lee should resign, while 52 percent said parliament had been wrong to deny a warrant for his arrest.

Nearly 54 percent of those asked said the claims against Lee deserved to be investigated, while nearly 41 said they believed the probe was political retribution.