Opposition leader to appear before prosecutors for questioning Monday

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung will appear before prosecutors for questioning next week in compliance with a summons over allegations of his involvement in a company's illegal money transfers to North Korea, his party said Friday.

Lee, who has been on a hunger sit-in against the government, plans to show up at a prosecutors' office Monday, Rep. Kang Sun-woo, a spokesperson of Lee's main opposition Democratic Party, told reporters.

The Suwon District Prosecutors Office earlier served him a summons requesting his appearance Monday.

Lee, however, plans to attend the questioning only in the morning hours on Monday due to an unavoidable schedule conflict, Kang said, adding the party will consult with the prosecution to continue additional questioning sometime next week.

It will mark the fifth time that Lee has appeared for prosecution questioning. He has been under investigation over a series of corruption allegations that he claims were fabricated, and was last questioned on Aug. 17.

The upcoming questioning will be about allegations that Ssangbangwool Group, an underwear manufacturer, unlawfully remitted $8 million to North Korea between January 2019 and January 2020 on behalf of Gyeonggi Province when Lee was governor.

Prosecutors suspect that $3 million was intended to facilitate Lee's planned visit to Pyongyang, while the remainder was meant for Gyeonggi's smart farm support program in North Korea.

Lee launched the hunger sit-in in front of the main National Assembly building on Thursday, saying he will fight for the people against what he called the "incompetent and violent" government of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Lee also claimed his innocence, likening the prosecution's repeated summons to "stalking." (Yonhap)