“Gone too far,” Voices in the PPP call for caution at accusation that Lee Jae-myung was behind Kim Man-bae’s interview

People Power Party (PPP) leader Kim Gi-hyeon greets lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun (right) at a general meeting of PPP lawmakers at the National Assembly on May 17. Left is Lee Chul-gyu, the party’s secretary general. Yonhap News

On September 11, People Power Party (PPP) legislator Yoon Sang-hyun called for caution after some members of the party suggested that Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party were behind the controversial Newstapa interview of Kim Man-bae and Shin Hak-rim.

On Monday, Yoon appeared on the YTN radio show, “News King, Park Ji-hoon” and said, “I think voices suggested the Democratic Party was behind the controversy, since Lee and the Democratic Party benefited from it.” He also said, “I think the idea that Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party were behind it has gone too far,” and added, “I think we should keep an eye on the investigation and say that when such facts are revealed.”

Yoon also suggested that they watch the tips coming in to the party’s investigation unit. He said, “When we launch an investigation team, we receive a lot of credible tips. That can actually be faster than the prosecutors’ investigation.” He further claimed, “Even if the prosecutors conduct an investigation, I suggest that our party also conduct our own investigation. Then we will probably be able to draw a clear outline.”

The interview, which the People Power Party suspect to be false, was a conversation between Shin Hak-rim, former head of the National Union of Media Workers, and Kim Man-bae, which Shin recorded around September 2021. The recording was later released through Newstapa on March 6, three days before the presidential election. The recording suggests President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was the prosecutor overseeing the Busan Savings Bank case as the chief of the Central Investigation Department 2 of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, tried to drop the case of Cho Woo-hyeong, who brokered loans in the Daejang-dong project.

Former PPP leader Lee Jun-seok also appeared on Political Signal, a radio show on Channel A on Monday and said, “The connection with the Democratic Party is not something that has emerged through evidence, but appears to be in part an argument by Jang Ye-chan, a member of the Supreme Council, but we need something more concrete.”

However, as for the opposition’s argument that the interview had little influence on the presidential election and that it did not change the outcome of the election, Lee Jun-seok mentioned the DDoS attack on the National Election Committee initiated by the Grand National Party, currently the PPP, ahead of the by-election for Seoul mayor in 2011 and said, “Such an act itself is an attack on democracy. We need to identify the facts and if there was a person who made such an attempt, then he should be strictly punished.”