South Korean opposition leader indicted over corruption

ISTANBUL

South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was indicted over corruption on Thursday.

It came two weeks after a court rejected a plea by prosecutors to grant Lee’s arrest.

Democratic Party chief has been accused of “breach of trust, bribery,” Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.

All charges are related to the 2014-2018 period when he served as mayor of Seongnam City, south of the national capital Seoul.

The accusations are related to a scandal-ridden land development project in the city's Bundang district.

The country’s parliament had already given its consent for Lee’s arrest.

His party has, however, protested the charges as "persecution" of the opposition party and accused President Yoon Suk-yeol’s government of an “attempt to remove a political enemy."

Lee also faces two other separate cases.