Prime Minister's Office Responds to Opposition's 'Lee Jae-myung Injury Downplay Text' Accusation: "No Involvement in Creation... Regret"

Noh "Reduce wound area from 1.5cm to 1cm"

Jeon Hyun-hee, former Chairperson of the Anti-Political Terrorism Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea and former Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, along with committee members, are heading to the General Civil Affairs Office at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on the morning of the 18th to submit a complaint related to violations of 'false official document creation and co-execution crimes.'
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Democratic Party of Korea filed a complaint against officials from the Anti-Terrorism Comprehensive Situation Room under the Prime Minister's Office, accusing them of downplaying the extent of injuries sustained by party leader Lee Jae-myung during a stabbing attack and informing related government departments accordingly. The Prime Minister's Office expressed "regret" over this action.

On the 18th, the Prime Minister's Office stated in a briefing, "Despite having responded sincerely and transparently to various inquiries from the opposition party, we express regret over today's filing of the complaint."

They added, "The Anti-Terrorism Center only received a situation text message from the National Police Agency's situation room immediately after party leader Lee Jae-myung was attacked on the morning of the 2nd," and emphasized, "We had no involvement whatsoever in composing the message."

Earlier, Jeon Hyun-hee, chairperson of the Democratic Party's Political Terror Countermeasures Committee, along with committee member Lee Hae-sik, visited the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Jongno-gu, Seoul, to submit the complaint against the officials.

The Democratic Party raised concerns that while the initial internal fire department report documented a "1.5 cm laceration on the neck," the message later distributed by the Anti-Terrorism Comprehensive Situation Room reduced the injury size from "1.5 cm" to "1 cm."

After submitting the complaint, Chairperson Jeon emphasized, "The message from the Prime Minister's Office Anti-Terrorism Comprehensive Situation Room containing false information became the starting point of an attempt to downplay and conceal the early stages of the terror incident," and stressed, "Both the person who wrote the message and the person who ordered it must be investigated."