Democratic Party and Ministry of Economy and Finance: "Acting Chief Choi Did Not Request Lee Jae-myung's Cooperation for Defense Minister Appointment"

Choi Sang-mok, Acting President and Deputy Prime Minister as well as Minister of Economy and Finance, is seated on the 13th at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, to have a meeting with Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

Acting President and Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, who is also the Minister of Economy and Finance, and Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, both denied allegations that Choi requested Lee's cooperation in appointing the Minister of National Defense.

On the 24th, the Democratic Party stated in a press notice, "The report that Acting President Choi asked Leader Lee to help appoint the vacant Minister of National Defense during their meeting is completely untrue."

They added, "(Leader Lee) has not received such a request," and said, "We do not understand why the government suddenly fabricated and spread such baseless claims after ten days. The government should clearly explain the circumstances under which this report was released and apologize."

Earlier, a media outlet reported that on the 13th, Acting President Choi met Leader Lee at the National Assembly and proposed discussing the appointment of the Minister of National Defense, which has been vacant for nearly two months, through a ruling-opposition-government consultative body, but Leader Lee did not give an immediate response.

Regarding this, the government also clarified in a notice on the same day, "The government has not disclosed the contents of the discussion from the private meeting between Acting President Choi and the Democratic Party leader on the 13th to any specific media."

They added, "The report that there was a discussion about appointing the Minister of National Defense is not true."