Kim Jaewon: "'Tip-off Manipulation' Park Jiwon a Tiger? If He Comes to the Village, Everyone Must Be Taken Down"

Allegations of 'Tip-off Saju' Raised Against Yoon... Park Ji-won Says "Don't Step on the Tiger's Tail"
Kim Jae-won: "If the Tiger Comes Out of Its Den, It Must Be Beaten"
Also Points Out "If the NIS Chief Interferes in Politics, It Is Subject to Criminal Punishment"

Kim Jae-won, Supreme Council Member of the People Power Party. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] Regarding the so-called 'accusation outsourcing' allegations surrounding Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential primary candidate, Kim Jae-won, a Supreme Council member of the People Power Party, criticized Park Ji-won, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director who warned "Do not step on the tail of a sleeping tiger," saying, "If a tiger comes out into a residential area, it must be beaten to death."

Earlier, Yoon's camp claimed that Director Park and Cho Seong-eun, former Vice Chairwoman of the United Future Party (now People Power Party) election committee, conspired in advance to report the 'accusation outsourcing' allegations. Jang Je-won, a People Power Party lawmaker and head of Yoon Seok-yeol's campaign situation room, held an emergency press conference at the National Assembly on the 12th, stating, "This incident can only be seen as a political conspiracy orchestrated by Director Park and his 'political foster daughter' Cho to eliminate a leading opposition candidate in the Republic of Korea's presidential election."

On the 14th, Director Park refuted the pre-conspiracy allegations in an interview with Yonhap News and other media. He warned Yoon, saying, "Why step on the tail of a sleeping tiger? It is advantageous for me to keep silent about not interfering in politics while serving as the NIS Director."

In response, Supreme Council member Kim appeared on KBS Radio's 'Joo Jin-woo Live' on the 15th and said, "Why did you come down from the Naegok-dong mountain to Sogong-dong and cause trouble, only to get caught by the tail?" The NIS headquarters is located in Naegok-dong, and the hotel where Director Park met Cho on the 11th of last month is located in Sogong-dong.

Kim criticized, "If you were given a residence in Naegok-dong to catch spies, you should work there 24 hours a day. Instead, you kept coming down and meeting Cho on the 38th floor of a hotel, and when that was exposed, you got angry. You are not a normal NIS Director. You resemble the old Agency for National Security Planning chiefs who threatened people with guns."

He continued, "If the NIS Director interferes in politics by outsourcing accusations, that itself is subject to criminal punishment. If you say you know everything and warn, 'Don't make me angry, if I open my mouth, everyone will get hurt,' that is exactly the crime of political interference," he pointed out.