[AKYUNG Poll] Over Half of the Public Say "Lee Jae-myung Bears Major Responsibility for Daejang-dong"

56.5% of Respondents Say 'Candidate Lee Bears More Responsibility'... 34.2% Say 'People Power Party Bears More Responsibility'

[Asia Economy Reporter Geum Bo-ryeong] Amid the truth dispute between Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate (current Governor of Gyeonggi Province), and the People Power Party over the 'Daejang-dong preferential treatment suspicion,' more than half of the public judged that Lee bears greater responsibility.

When asked about the perception of the Daejang-dong development project in Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province, 56.5% responded that "the responsibility lies heavily with candidate Lee Jae-myung, who designed the project at the time and had command authority over the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation." The public sentiment seems to disagree with Lee's statement that it was "the largest public interest recovery project since Dangun" and rather "something to be praised."

The People Power Party claims that in the urban development project jointly participated by private and public sectors, the private sector took excessive profits, and thus candidate Lee, who had management responsibility over the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, should be held accountable. Furthermore, as it was revealed that Lee's close associates purchased apartments in Daejang-dong, the calls for Lee's accountability are growing. The People Power Party is strongly urging a special investigation into the Daejang-dong gate targeting Lee's side.

On the other hand, 34.2% answered that "the responsibility lies heavily with the People Power Party, which was the ruling party at the time and the majority in the Seongnam City Council, blocking public development." Those who answered "don't know" accounted for 9.3%.

At the time of the Daejang-dong development push, the Seongnam City Council, controlled by the Saenuri Party (the predecessor of the People Power Party), opposed Lee's opinion to develop the Daejang-dong area publicly. When public development was canceled, Lee established the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation and promoted private-public development of housing sites including Daejang-dong. Lee claims that the People Power Party is behind the Daejang-dong suspicion, calling it the "People Power Party Hwacheon Daeyu Gate."

By age group, except for those in their 40s, all age groups predominantly responded that "candidate Lee bears greater responsibility." Those aged 18-29 (66.3%), 30s (64.0%), 50s (53.6%), and 60 and above (60.0%) leaned toward Lee's responsibility. Only those in their 40s showed a different trend, with 38.8% saying Lee bears greater responsibility and 53.4% attributing greater responsibility to the People Power Party.

By region, Seoul (59.9%), Gyeonggi·Incheon (56.5%), Daegu·Gyeongbuk (68.8%), and Busan·Ulsan·Gyeongnam (69%) saw greater responsibility placed on Lee, while Gwangju·Jeonbuk·Jeonnam (53.2%) leaned toward holding the People Power Party more responsible.

This survey was conducted by Asia Economy through Win-G Korea Consulting from the 9th to 10th of this month targeting voters aged 18 and above nationwide, with 1,023 respondents and an overall response rate of 7.1%. The survey method was wireless ARS using 100% mobile phone virtual numbers, and the sample was extracted with weighted values by gender, age, and region based on the resident registration population as of the end of January 2021 by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (cell weighting). The sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For detailed survey information, please refer to the Win-G Korea Consulting website or the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.