Hong Jun-pyo, a member of the People Power Party, and former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol (from left). / Photo by Yonhap News
[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Hong Jun-pyo, a presidential candidate from the People Power Party, and former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl are engaged in a heated debate over the scope of Kim Geon-hee's 'Deutsche Motors stock trading-related accounts.'
Earlier, Yoon's side promised during a debate with Hong on the 15th to "disclose the account transaction details" related to suspicions of stock price manipulation of Deutsche Motors by Yoon's wife, Kim, and on the previous day (the 20th), they released Kim's stock account transaction details.
Former President Yoon's side disclosed Kim Gun-hee's Shinhan Financial Investment account. / Photo by Seok-yeol Legal Team Facebook capture
The A4 20-page account details disclosed by Yoon's side include transaction records from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2010.
However, Hong's camp legal support team and spokesperson Yeo Myung jointly issued a statement pointing out ▲that only part of Kim's stock trading details were selectively disclosed ▲the source of funds used to purchase a large volume of stocks during a period when she had no occupation or income is unclear ▲and that evaluation losses at a specific point were misleadingly presented as final 'realized losses.'
Spokesperson Yeo said, "What should actually be disclosed are the records from 2011 or 2012, when the stock price manipulation was in full swing," adding, "Candidate Yoon selectively disclosed only pages 38 to 60 out of a total of 62 pages of transaction details."
She also criticized, "It has been confirmed that there was cash to purchase over 2.4 billion won worth of stocks between May 2009 and May 2010. At that time, Kim had no particular occupation or income, so how did she buy a high-priced apartment in Seocho-dong and still have more than 2.4 billion won left to entrust the account to stock manipulators and purchase a large volume of stocks?"
Furthermore, she criticized, "Candidate Yoon deliberately lied to the public during the TV debate to conceal these suspicions by responding 'That is completely absurd and untrue' to the question, 'Did Kim have more than 1 billion won in the account entrusted to Lee Jeong-pil?'"
Spokesperson Yeo stated, "This deceptive account disclosure not only fails to resolve public suspicions but rather amplifies them," and urged, "We call for a transparent disclosure to the public of when and at what price Kim sold the Deutsche Motors stocks she purchased with over 2.2 billion won, how much realized profit she earned, and the full details of all Deutsche Motors stock transactions."
Meanwhile, Yoon Hee-seok, public relations special spokesperson for Yoon Seok-youl's campaign, appeared on TBS Traffic Broadcasting's 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' on the 21st and, referring to Hong's remarks, raised his voice, saying, "How can there be anything if there were no transactions? Even if they want to expose it, there is nothing to show because there were no transactions."
He added, "Regarding (Kim's) Deutsche Motors, the related story is that in January 2010, she entrusted stock trading to Mr. Lee, who is suspected to be the culprit in the Deutsche Motors stock price manipulation case."
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