On January 17, former President Lee Myung-bak said, “Many people see the prosecutors’ investigations conducted in the name of eradicating long-established bad practices as a political scheme aiming to destroy the conservatives and as political retaliation for the death of former President Roh Moo-hyun.” Some people argue that the former president attempted to incite the conservatives to come together by defining the government’s efforts to root out long-established irregularities as a “political scheme” and “political retaliation.” Lee remained silent on the various allegations that have surfaced, including the alleged bribes received by his close aides from the National Intelligence Service’s special activities expenses.

This day, former President Lee released a statement from his office in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul and argued, “It is clear that the recent investigation by the Prosecution Service of public officials and the Cheong Wa Dae during the Lee Myung-bak government who have worked with me had targeted me from the start.”

He further said, “The public officials of our government who are currently being investigated were all people who devoted themselves to this country. I am ultimately responsible for everything that occurred while I was in office.” Yet at the same time, he stressed, “Don’t harass civil servants who devoted themselves to this country with a forced investigation, but hold me responsible instead. That is my position.”

Lee said, “In the last five years after I left office, a number of investigations have been conducted on the Four Major Rivers Project, on resource diplomacy, and the second Lotte World, but there was no corruption among the senior public officials I worked with. However, I am distressed at the recent attempts to shake the very foundation of the Republic of Korea by overturning history and by engaging in political retaliation.”

The former president said, “We were able to host the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games after much difficulty. I hope that the people can all come together and successfully host the games and turn this into an opportunity to once again elevate our country’s international status.”

But Lee did not mention anything about the various allegations that he is connected to, such as the arrest of Kim Baek-jun, a former Cheong Wa Dae official who oversaw general affairs and a person often referred to as the “butler”; the report by Kim Ju-seong, former director of planning and coordination at the National Intelligence Service on the delivery of the intelligence agency’s special activities expenses; and the controversial attempt to take advantage of law enforcement agencies to pursue his personal interests while he was in office.

Lee argued that there was no corruption, but Choi See-joong, the former chairman of the Korea Communications Commission and Park Young-joon, former vice minister of knowledge and economy, also known as the “king vice minister,” received prison sentences for their involvement in corruption concerning the government permit for Pi-City. There has been no end to corruption during Lee’s term in office, with Shin Jae-min, former vice minister of culture, sports and tourism also receiving a prison sentence for receiving bribes.