"Kim Geon-hee, Asked to Leave as Foreign Minister's Wife"... Cheong Wa Dae TF "Woo Sang-ho Spreading False Information"

Woo Sang-ho Raises Allegations Against Kim Geon-hee on Radio
"Visited Official Residence Holding a Puppy, Told Minister's Wife to 'Leave'"
Cheong Wa Dae TF: "Democratic Party Fabricates Falsehoods, Is It an Incurable Disease?"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Democratic Party lawmaker Woo Sang-ho claimed that Kim Geon-hee, the spouse of President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol, visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs minister’s official residence in Hannam-dong, Seoul, holding her pet dog, and told the wife of Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, who is in her 70s, to "please step outside as we need to look around," which led Yoon’s camp to decide to take legal action for spreading false information.

The Blue House Relocation Task Force (TF) of the Presidential Transition Committee stated in a press release sent to reporters on the 2nd, "Is the Democratic Party’s habit of fabricating falsehoods and spreading lies an incurable disease that will never be cured?" and added, "We will hold lawmaker Woo Sang-ho legally accountable for his ‘say whatever you want’ style of spreading false information."

Earlier, Woo appeared on TBS’s Kim Eo-jun News Factory on the same day and said, "I heard directly from someone very close to the Foreign Minister," and claimed, "(Kim Geon-hee) must have come holding a dog. Then she told the Foreign Minister’s wife, who is over 70 years old, ‘Please step outside for a moment as we need to look around inside,’ so she stayed outside in the garden while they looked around inside."

Woo also said, "I heard that the Foreign Minister’s wife was ‘quite displeased,’" and added, "Of course, Minister Chung Eui-yong and his wife, who were believed not to be using the Foreign Minister’s official residence, were quite embarrassed." He further explained that the position suddenly changed to use the Foreign Minister’s official residence as the new presidential residence after Kim’s visit.

In response, the Blue House Relocation TF emphasized, "During Kim Geon-hee’s visit to the Foreign Minister’s official residence, the visit was conducted with the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after sufficient coordination to ensure no inconvenience to the Ministry," and added, "Since the visit was coordinated in advance with the Ministry, the Foreign Minister was not attending any events at the time, and there was no encounter whatsoever with the minister’s spouse."

They continued, "It has been clearly confirmed that the Foreign Minister’s official residence staff was present at the time, and there was no encounter with the minister’s spouse," and criticized, "The claim that Kim Geon-hee held her dog and drove out the Foreign Minister’s spouse while looking around the house is a very malicious and fabricated falsehood. What is the basis for such a claim?"

The Blue House Relocation TF stated, "Lawmaker Woo must immediately reveal who the ‘reliable source’ is that he cited as the basis for the falsehood and on what grounds such claims were made," and added, "How long will you continue to incite the public with fabricated falsehoods? The public will no longer be deceived."