Baek Hyeryun: "If President Yoon Did Not Make the Call, Prosecute Kang Yongseok"

Baek Hye-ryun, Chief Spokesperson of the Election Countermeasures Committee for the Democratic Party of Korea Gyeonggi Province Governor Candidate

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Baek Hye-ryun, chief spokesperson of the election campaign committee for Kim Dong-yeon, the Democratic Party candidate for Gyeonggi Province governor, demanded on the 17th, "President Yoon Seok-yeol should file a complaint against independent candidate Kang Yong-seok for spreading false information under the Public Official Election Act to put an end to the truth dispute over whether he had a phone call with Kang."

Baek held a press conference at the Gyeonggi Provincial Council on the same day and urged, "President Yoon has once again become the center of controversy over interference in the (June 1 local) election due to the disclosure of the phone call content with candidate Kang."

He argued, "If President Yoon's repeated denials are ignored and candidate Kang, who insists 'it is a definite fact that the call took place,' is left as is, the public will judge that President Yoon is now seriously trying to intervene in the local elections."

Candidate Kang Yong-seok previously stated in a phone interview with the media on the 13th, "President Yoon called me last week when he was president-elect," and added, "President Yoon asked, 'Why should you attack Kim Dong-yeon (Democratic Party candidate for Gyeonggi governor)? Why not attack Kim Eun-hye (People Power Party candidate for Gyeonggi governor)?'"

In this regard, the Democratic Party's Gyeonggi Provincial Party filed a complaint with the Gyeonggi Provincial Election Commission on the 16th against President Yoon and candidate Kang for violating the Public Official Election Act, stating that President Yoon made election interference remarks during the call with candidate Kang when he was president-elect, and candidate Kang disclosed this through a media interview.

Meanwhile, the Blue House presidential office announced on the same day, "The president did not have a phone call with lawyer Kang Yong-seok. Please refer to this regarding the reports."