Former President Lee Myung-bak’s arrest is being met with mixed reactions from the country’s political arena.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea welcomed Lee’s arrest in the early hours of Friday, hailing it as the end of an era of corruption, while the conservative opposition repeated its accusation of political revenge. 

The ruling party’s chief Rep. Choo Mi-ae responded to the arrest by saying that the development marked the end of a “nine-year regime of accumulated wrongs” in a post on her social media account.

The “accumulated wrongs” refer to irregularities and unjust practices found in various areas of society, which the Moon Jae-in administration has prioritized to address.

“The misfortune of former presidents being arrested should not be repeated,” Choo wrote. She added that the people are bringing about the “right justice in Korea through candle democracy,” referring to the changes initiated by the candlelight protests against former President Park Geun-hye.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party Chairman Hong Joon-pyo, for his part, again accused the Moon administration of political revenge.

Hong wrote on his social media account that Lee’s arrest would be viewed by the public as “political revenge veiled as the clearing out of accumulated evils to avenge (Moon’s) lord.”

Hong was referring to late President Roh Moo-hyun as President Moon Jae-in’s “lord.”

Roh, who was Moon’s political mentor, took his own life while faced with allegations of corruption during the Lee Myung-bak administration.

Conservatives, including Lee and Hong, have long maintained that investigations into the alleged wrongdoings of Lee and his aides are revenge for Roh’s death.

“The intentions of the Moon Jae-in administration is clear,” Hong went on.

“It is to engage in the local elections after seducing the people with the three shows; the show of political revenge masked as resolving accumulated wrong, the false show of inter-Korean peace, and the show of constitutional amendment, which is a step toward a socialist state.”

Local elections are slated for June 13, when the administration hopes to hold a referendum on constitutional amendment. The parties have so far failed to reach an agreement on a revision bill, prompting the government to draw up its own. The government’s proposal, which includes a number of changes for reducing the authority of the president and strengthening local governments, will be submitted Monday.

As for the presidential office, it has remained mostly silent on Lee’s arrest, with spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom simply stating that the developments were regrettable and that the current administration would apply tougher standards to itself.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)