Lee Accuses NIS of “Fabrication” in Rebellion Case

Lee Seok Ki, the controversial leftwing lawmaker who faces accusations of “conspiring to stage a rebellion,” has appeared in public for the first time since yesterday’s events.

Lee, who spoke at a joint meeting of Unified Progressive Party lawmakers this morning, dismissed the charges leveled at him and a number of others as a “complete fabrication.”

He went on to accuse the embattled National Intelligence Service of “repressing progressive and democratic factions,” before adding that “this is an extraordinary act of repression the like of which has never been seen before.”

“However,” Lee declared, “the harsher the repression becomes so the more powerful the flame of democracy will become. Both I and the Unified Progressive Party love and trust people of this country, and will fight to the end for justice and democracy.”

Lee did not appear in public yesterday, when police and NIS agents raided almost twenty locations in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, including Lee’s National Assembly offices, before arresting three individuals and ordering a number of others not to leave the country.