Former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun fully denied the allegations of interference in candidate selection involving First Lady Kim Geon-hee, stating, "The nomination allegations have nothing to do with me."
On the morning of the 3rd, around 9:38 a.m., Kim appeared at the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office on charges of violating the Political Funds Act. He is a key figure in the allegations concerning First Lady Kim Geon-hee's interference in candidate selection and the suspected money transactions with Myung Tae-gyun.
Former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun is appearing at the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office in Seongsan-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongnam, on the morning of the 3rd to state his position. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Before entering the building, Kim expressed his stance on the allegations, saying, "I learned about the polling cost issue during the last presidential election through media reports," and "The (quid pro quo) nomination allegations have nothing to do with me," fully denying the related suspicions.
When asked by reporters about "what role Mr. Myung played during the People Power Party's nomination for the June 1, 2022, parliamentary by-election," he replied, "Since Mr. Myung speaks well, I know to some extent that he helped me," adding, "I have never contacted President Yoon Seok-yeol or First Lady Kim regarding the nomination."
Regarding the question, "Did you know if Mr. Myung intervened in your nomination by communicating with First Lady Kim?" he stated, "I have heard that Mr. Myung said First Lady Kim was receptive to his words, but I have never heard anything directly related to the nomination."
When asked about the meaning of the recorded statement where he said he benefited from Mr. Myung, he responded, "I am grateful to everyone who helped in the election."
He also said he had "never heard" about the recent call recordings between Mr. Myung and President Yoon Seok-yeol released by the Democratic Party of Korea.
Later, he claimed, "The recording of Kang Hye-kyung, who was my accounting manager, is my best defense," and added, "I believe Kang tried to extort money using the recordings of our conversations as leverage."
Kim is accused of giving about 90 million won in salary payments to Mr. Myung multiple times since August 2022, after being elected in the Changwon Chang district in the June 1, 2022, parliamentary by-election.
This is Kim's second investigation by prosecutors since June, when he was a witness. Prosecutors suspect that Kim gave this money as a quid pro quo, expecting nomination support from Mr. Myung, who claimed close ties with First Lady Kim Geon-hee.
Earlier, on the 21st of last month, Kang appeared as a witness at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee hearing and raised allegations that during the last presidential election, Mr. Myung conducted "illegal opinion polls" for then-candidate Yoon Seok-yeol, and in return, Kim received the nomination for the June 2022 by-election, with First Lady Kim intervening in the nomination process.
Kang claimed that the Future Korea Research Institute conducted a total of 81 opinion polls, and Mr. Myung did not receive about 370 million won in costs incurred during this process but instead compensated with Kim's nomination.
Although Kim Mo is the registered representative of the Future Korea Research Institute, Mr. Myung is known to be the actual operator.
Prosecutors consider the approximately 90 million won exchanged between Kim and Mr. Myung to be a violation of the Political Funds Act and changed both their statuses to suspects in September.
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