Lee Jae-myung: "No matter how much you dig into me, nothing will come out 100%"

"Would We Have Come This Far Without Such Determination?"
Yoon's Side Denies Allegations of Interference in Seongnam Dogae Public Corporation President's Resignation as "Completely Untrue"

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate who resigned from the position of Governor of Gyeonggi Province, is answering questions from the press as he enters the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do on the 25th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung, Suwon aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, boldly declared regarding various allegations surrounding him, including preferential treatment in the Daejang-dong development project, "I guarantee that no matter how much you dig into me, 100% nothing will come out."

After concluding his resignation press conference as Governor of Gyeonggi Province on the 25th, Lee stated at a press briefing, "Would I have come this far (to run for president) without such determination?"

He said, "There is a saying that if you are next to a tough person, you get struck by lightning, but what worries me are the people around me," adding, "I have repeatedly told them, 'Because I am on the front line, you are also in the same danger.'"

Regarding the allegation from Yoon Seok-youl, the People Power Party presidential candidate, that Lee was involved in the resignation of Hwang Mu-seong, the first president of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation (Seongnam Dogae Gong), Lee refuted, "That is completely untrue." He explained, "The Seongnam Urban Development Corporation is the largest affiliated institution in Seongnam, but when Hwang Mu-seong was selected through a public recruitment, I did not know him at all," and added, "When former President Hwang said he was quitting, I wondered 'Why is he quitting?' and I remember feeling regretful at the time."

Earlier that morning, Kwon Seong-dong, head of the comprehensive support headquarters of Yoon Seok-youl’s campaign, held a press conference at the National Assembly and claimed, "In 2015, Development Director Yoo Han-gi forced President Hwang Mu-seong to resign to remove obstacles for Mayor Lee Jae-myung," and asserted, "It has been confirmed once again that Lee Jae-myung is the mastermind behind the Daejang-dong gate."

Regarding the controversy that lawyer Jeong Min-yong, who served as the head of the strategic investment team at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation and was responsible for drafting the public recruitment guidelines, directly reported to the Seongnam mayor about the 'public recruitment guidelines confirming the corporation’s profits,' Lee dismissed it as "a joint meeting held in the mayor’s office."

He continued, "We held at least two to three joint meetings in the mayor’s office with practitioners from the Urban Development Project Team and the Urban Corporation," emphasizing, "At that time, I instructed that since the Daejang-dong development could impose excessive burdens on the private sector and cause problems, they should include pre-litigation settlement and non-litigation special agreements."

Lee also expressed his intention to inherit the new welfare policy proposed by his intra-party rival, former party leader Lee Nak-yeon. He said, "New welfare is the Democratic Party’s research result, and I have never said that this policy is not acceptable," adding, "The child allowance and childcare allowance that former leader Lee mentioned are parts of the basic income I handle."