[단독]Lee Jun-seok “He told me to nominate Ahn Cheol-soo”… President’s office closed

<img alt="New Reform Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok is answering questions from reporters while attending a plenary session held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the afternoon of the 14th. News 1″ class=”thumb_g_article” data-org-src=”https://t1.daumcdn.net/news/202411/14/donga/20241114171054062hhdb.jpg” data-org-width=”1200″ dmcf-mid=”YRwg1A8tmR” dmcf-mtype=”image” height=”auto” src=”https://img4.daumcdn.net/thumb/R658x0.q70/?fname=https://t1.daumcdn.net/news/202411/14/donga/20241114171054062hhdb.jpg” width=”658″/>

New Reform Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok is answering questions from reporters while attending a plenary session held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the afternoon of the 14th. News 1

New Reform Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok said on the 14th, “(Ahead of the local elections in June 2022), a provincial party chairman complained to President Yoon Seok-yeol, saying, ‘Lee Jun-seok is not listening,’ and President Yoon asked, ‘What should I do about nominating a specific mayor?’ He said. Rep. Lee also said, “In the case of a district mayor nomination in Seoul, (President Yoon) once said, ‘Since the people we have now are not competitive, wouldn’t it be better to give the nomination to someone else?’” It is known that the person mentioned by President Yoon is former Gangseo-gu mayor Kim Tae-woo, a former prosecutor’s office investigator.

Rep. Lee also revealed that President Yoon, who was president-elect at the time of nomination for the re-election and by-elections held along with local elections, pushed Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, who was the chairman of the presidential transition committee. Rep. Lee, who was the leader of the People Power Party at the time, disclosed that there were circumstances in which President-elect Yoon attempted to intervene in the nomination ahead of the 2022 local elections.

Following the release of an audio file of President Yoon talking directly with Myung Tae-gyun and mentioning the nomination of former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun, controversy arose as additional testimony emerged. Rep. Lee also said about the transcript of the speech, “Isn’t Mr. Myeong in a desperate attempt to finally receive approval from the President?” and “Isn’t Mr. Myeong acting like that after knowing who actually exerted influence on the nomination?”

The Presidential Office’s policy is to have no official position on Rep. Lee’s remarks regarding interference in President Yoon’s nomination. A high-ranking official in the President’s Office said, “We don’t even know whether Rep. Lee’s remarks are true or not.”

● “We also talk about nomination for district mayor.”

Representative Lee met with the Dong-A Ilbo on this day and said, “I checked all the records of President Yoon’s active communication during the nomination period,” and added, “I also saw things that were so funny that they made no sense because they reminded me of the old days.” At the same time, Rep. Lee added, “There are no legal problems with the president’s comments (related to nomination).” However, Representative Lee also made a pressuring statement, saying, “If the prosecution says they will investigate because there is something that needs to be confirmed, of course I am willing to go and tell them more certain things than what has already been said.”

The candidate that President Yoon pushed for as the district mayor in the Seoul area is known to be former district mayor Kim. Former district mayor Kim was nominated and elected while serving a suspended prison sentence in the first trial on charges of exposing suspicions of tampering with the inspection of the Blue House’s special inspection team during the Moon Jae-in administration. Afterwards, his sentence was confirmed and he lost his position as district mayor. Afterwards, he was eligible for a special pardon on Liberation Day in 2023, and ran again in the by-election for Gangseo-gu mayor held in October of the same year, but was defeated.

Rep. Lee said, “When I asked President Yoon about the issue related to Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, President Yoon said, ‘Ahn Cheol-soo should be nominated (singular),’” and “I argued that there should at least be a primary election.” At that time, Rep. Ahn competed with former Rep. Park Min-sik and others for the position of People Power Party candidate for the Bundang Gap by-election in Gyeonggi Province, but received a single nomination after former Rep. Park announced his intention to resign as a candidate. Former lawmaker Park later served as the first Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs under the Yoon Seok-yeol government.

In the case of the mayor of a specific region mentioned by Rep. Lee, the candidate whom President Yoon had expressed his opposition to was nominated and elected. Rep. Lee explained, “(The) chairman of the provincial party committee was actually behaving in a problematic way, and I said that the intentions of the floor leader and I are the same, so I turned around that intention.”

Rep. Lee also emphasized that there was a lot of communication between President Yoon and his wife Kim Kun-hee during the election phase. Rep. Lee said, “When there was a case where someone tried to influence the diplomatic committee by selling out the intentions of the president and first lady, I asked the president, ‘This person is saying this. Is there actually a reason for me to know about it?’” .

●“I relayed this information to Ming because I thought there was a misunderstanding.”

Rep. Lee disclosed the circumstances of President Yoon’s involvement in the nomination and actively explained the controversy surrounding him. Rep. Lee responded to the claim that he sent a message to Mr. Myeong the day before the announcement of former Rep. Kim’s nomination (May 9, 2022) to the effect that ‘the president-elect is saying that former Rep. Kim should run for the primary’, saying, “I sent it to him because I think he was misinformed.” “You just have to think about it,” he explained.

Regarding the controversy that Mr. Myeong received an envelope of money from Mrs. Kim, Rep. Lee said, “Ms. Kim has more things to explain,” and “She only bought me a hamburger.”

Reporter Lee Sang-heon dapaper@donga.com
Reporter Jo Kwon-hyung buzz@donga.com