Tae Yong-ho Recorded Saying, “Senior Secretary Lee Jin-bok Mentioned Candidate Nominations and Requested a Comment Supporting South Korea’s Relations with Japan”

A voice recording of Tae Yong-ho (Thae Yong-ho, pictured), a member of the People Power Party (PPP) Supreme Council, was released, and in the recording from March, Tae speaks about how Senior Secretary to the President for Political Affairs Lee Jin-bok mentioned candidate nominations in next year’s parliamentary elections and asked him to make a comment supporting the government’s compensation plan for the victims of forced mobilization (labor) under Japanese occupation. Tae claimed that he was exaggerating in the recording, and Lee denied that he ever made such a request.

On May 1, MBC released a recording of Tae speaking to his staff in his office in the National Assembly on the evening of March 9. In the recording, Tae said, “Today, as soon as I entered, the senior secretary for political affairs asked me, ‘Why did you speak like that today? Why was there no one in the Supreme Council saying anything when the Democratic Party attacked the president with South Korea-Japan relations?’”

Tae also conveyed Lee’s words to “Take advantage of the microphone when you’re in the Supreme Council. When I report to the president and tell him, ‘Today, he (Tae) said this and this,’ there will be no need for you to worry about things like candidate nominations.” Tae continued and described how Lee said, “Today, what a good opportunity was this South Korea-Japan relations? If you had said something in this first meeting, I could have told the president, ‘Tae Yong-ho made a comment about our relations with Japan.’ It could have been so good.” Tae added, “It was a wake-up call.” His words suggested that Lee pressed Tae to support the government’s policy on Japan if he was worried about getting nominated as the party’s candidate in the parliamentary elections.

Tae’s remarks were recorded the day after the party’s leader and members of the Supreme Council were elected. That morning, the party held the first meeting of the Supreme Council. At the time, Tae did not make any comment on South Korea’s relations with Japan. But in the Supreme Council meeting on March 13, shortly after his meeting with Lee, Tae criticized the Democratic Party and said, “The Democratic Party has no regard for national interest and is only intent on making political attacks in connection with the solution for forced mobilization under Japanese occupation and our relations with Japan.” After the MBC coverage, Tae released a statement and said, “Senior Secretary Lee did not mention South Korea’s relations with Japan or the issue of candidate nominations when he met me,” and explained he was exaggerating to put his staff at ease, so they would not worry about his candidate nomination. Lee said over the phone, “We only spoke about April 3,” and added, “I never said that (content of the recording).”