As President Lee Jae Myung defined the attack against him during his tenure as Democratic Party leader, together with the prosecutorial investigation and media coverage, as the ‘three major killing threats’ and delivered a sharp rebuke, the related controversy has been reignited ahead of the June 3 local elections. The People Power Party criticized this as “a build-up to push through a withdrawal of prosecution,” while the Democratic Party appears wary that judicial risk surrounding the president will resurface.

According to compiled reporting on the 10th, President Lee wrote on X on the 9th: “Judicial murder through a fabricated indictment by prosecutors, murder by a bladed weapon mobilizing a terrorist, and character assassination by mobilizing manipulated media. From these grave three killing threats, the people, that is, heaven, saved me, so my life now belongs entirely to the people.” He also shared a Kyunghyang Shinmun article stating that the Anti-corruption & Civil Rights Commission under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration unfairly intervened in the handling of the past case concerning his ‘helicopter transfer favoritism controversy.’

Earlier, on the 8th, the Anti-corruption & Civil Rights Commission, citing the findings of its Normalization Task Force (TF), announced that its previous judgment related to the process by which President Lee, then Democratic Party leader, was transported by helicopter to Seoul National University Hospital after being attacked in Busan in January 2024 had been inappropriate, and that the secretary general of the Anti-corruption & Civil Rights Commission under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration had unfairly intervened in handling the case. At the time, the Anti-corruption & Civil Rights Commission had concluded that, during the helicopter transfer process, the Busan Fire Headquarters and others violated the Code of Conduct for Public Officials.

The opposition pushed back. Park Sung-hoon, senior spokesperson of the People Power Party, said in a commentary the same day, “What the Anti-corruption & Civil Rights Commission produced under the grand banner of a Normalization TF was, in the end, nothing but a ‘regime-tailored laundering of the past.’” Floor leader Song Eon-seok wrote on Facebook, “Even the attack he suffered is being invoked as judicial murder via a fabricated indictment, and used as material for a build-up to force through a withdrawal of prosecution for a self-exoneration.” Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok also criticized on Facebook, “Take your hands off the Lee Jae Myung investigation.”

The Democratic Party criticized the opposition for politicizing even the attack on the president. In a commentary the same day, Lee Joo-hee, the party’s floor spokesperson, said, “We express deep regret at the People Power Party’s heartlessness in turning the urgent medical situation two years agowhen then Democratic Party leader Lee Jae Myung’s life hung by a thread after an unexpected terror attackinto negative fodder for the June 3 local elections.”

Having the investigation into President Lee emerge as a central issue in the local elections is also burdensome for the Democratic Party. The party has sought to delay promotion of the ‘special counsel bill on the Yoon administration fabricated indictment’ until after the election, wary of judicial issues related to President Lee rising to the forefront before voting. This has been interpreted as a move mindful of potential defections among swing voters and consolidation among conservatives. Kim Bu-gyeom, the Daegu mayoral candidate, and Woo Sang-ho, the Gangwon governor candidate, even publicly called for postponing passage of the special counsel bill.

Some argue that by personally raising the ‘judicial killing threat,’ the president himself has returned to the center of controversy, needlessly creating trouble. Yoo Seung-chan, head of Storydot, said, “Voters generally assess that President Lee is managing state affairs well; from the Democratic Party’s standpoint, needlessly reminding people of the president’s judicial risk, which had been fading from view, may not be desirable,” adding, “For the Democratic Party, it is most advantageous to fight the local elections as low-salience contests; once issues arise, it can give conservatives grounds to rally.”

There is also a counterargument that the president’s direct engagement could help mobilize the Democratic Party’s core base. Lee Jae-mook, a professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said, “Depending on how voters view the prosecution under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, they are likely to interpret this matter politically along partisan lines,” adding, “Its effect on the local elections may not be significant.”