Hong Jun-pyo "Request for Reinstatement through Myeong Tae-gyun? Clear Falsehood" Anger

"Defamation Complaint by Myeong and His Legal Representative"
"My Reinstatement Was Done by Lee Jun-seok"

Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo strongly denied the claim made by Mr. Myeong Tae-gyun that he asked former People Power Party emergency committee chairman Kim Jong-in for reinstatement through him, and announced that he would file a defamation (false information disclosure) lawsuit against Mr. Myeong and his legal representative, lawyer Nam Sang-kwon.

Hong Joon-pyo, Mayor of Daegu. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On the 18th, Mayor Hong wrote on Facebook, "A person named lawyer Myeong Tae-gyun appeared on MBC radio and lied that I asked Kim Jong-in for reinstatement through Myeong Tae-gyun," adding, "Kim Jong-in is a bribery offender who, during the 1993 Donghwa Bank bribery case, entered the investigation room instead of prosecutor Ham Seung-hee and obtained a bribery confession. How could I have asked such a person for reinstatement?" expressing his indignation.

On the same day, lawyer Nam claimed on MBC radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' program, "Mayor Hong and Mr. Myeong had a close relationship. They even communicated by phone. Before Mayor Hong's reinstatement to the People Power Party in 2021, he asked Kim Jong-in, then emergency committee chairman, for reinstatement through Mr. Myeong," he asserted.

Mayor Hong said, "Even when Kwon Seong-dong, Yoon Sang-hyun, and Kim Tae-ho applied for reinstatement, I did not even apply to Kim Jong-in. During the April 2012 general election, since Kim Jong-in was part of Park Geun-hye's emergency committee, I did not even apply for nomination to avoid being screened by a bribery offender. There was even a case where the party strategically nominated me for Dongdaemun District despite my not applying because no one else was running," reiterating his denial of contact with former emergency committee chairman Kim. He explained that his reinstatement was "because after Kim Jong-in's expulsion, our party's presidential candidates unanimously supported reinstatement at the party convention, so Representative Lee Jun-seok reinstated me."

He added, "I will file a lawsuit against lawyer Myeong Tae-gyun and Mr. Myeong Tae-gyun for defamation due to false information disclosure and ensure they are severely punished." Regarding Mr. Myeong, he emphasized, "Do not even think about linking me with a public opinion manipulation fraudster. I am not related to him in the slightest. I am not a fool who cannot recognize such a fraudster." About lawyer Nam Sang-kwon, he wrote, "I had him as a political secretary for six months when I was governor of Gyeongnam, but I immediately dismissed him due to incompetence. He left the party and declared support for Kim Kyung-soo (former governor of Gyeongnam)."