"Not a Single Word of My Voice or KakaoTalk Exists"
"A Fake Life Filled with Fraud and Lies Shakes the Nation"
Daegu Mayor Hong Jun-pyo reiterated his claim that he is not related to the 'Myeong Taegyun Gate'.
On the 18th, Mayor Hong posted on his social media (SNS) regarding the suspicions related to Myeong Taegyun, saying, "Whether it is the Central District Prosecutors' Office or a special prosecutor, I don't care, so investigate thoroughly." He stated, "I have never associated or had any relationship with political brokers like Myeong Taegyun who manipulate public opinion," and added, "Some people are worried because of some tabloid media reports that are fooled by Myeong Taegyun's bluff and lies, but there is absolutely nothing, so don't worry."
He continued, "If there was nothing to come out, would they have a quack lawyer give a false interview about the Gyeongnam governor election expenses from 10 years ago? There is not a single word of mine on the golden phone or KakaoTalk, so the Democratic Party will have nothing to expose," and explained, "In June 2021, during our party's convention, Myeong Taegyun and Representative Lee Jun-seok came together to the Daegu Suseong office asking for help for Lee. At that time, I told Myeong Taegyun to leave and had a private meeting with Representative Lee for about 10 minutes, and that was all."
He added, "Even then, I knew Myeong Taegyun was a political broker who manipulates public opinion. It is truly regrettable that a fake life filled with bluff, lies, fraud, and manipulation of public opinion is shaking the country," and said, "The scammer knows that the Democratic Party only pays attention if they connect me, so they keep making up baseless stories." Finally, he said, "I will never forgive Myeong Taegyun and his gang who slander me."
The Democratic Party held a meeting of the Myeong Taegyun Gate Truth Investigation Team the day before at the Democratic Party floor leader's office in the National Assembly. Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yeon-hee said, "Where did the voice of President Yoon, which caused a stir in the world, saying 'I told them to give Kim Young-seon a nomination because he worked hard, but the party is making a fuss,' go?" She pointed out, "Looking at the written announcement of the interim investigation results by the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office, no matter how hard you look, the names that drew the most attention?Yoon Seok-yeol, Kim Kun-hee, Yoon Sang-hyun, Hong Jun-pyo, Oh Se-hoon?are not there. There is also no mention of indictment regarding the nomination interference suspicions."
She also explained, "It is truly disappointing and lamentable that the prosecution is transferring the investigation from the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office to the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office to continue the investigation," and said, "The method of public opinion survey planning and manipulation by the accused Myeong Taegyun was used in the Seoul mayoral election and others, designing questions favorable to a specific candidate through non-ballot public opinion surveys and placing questions that guide respondents' political tendencies to gather support for symbolic candidates of conservative parties." Furthermore, she emphasized, "This is an issue that would clearly be revealed even if the prosecution investigated for just one day," and stressed, "If there is a will to investigate Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Mayor Hong Jun-pyo, the prosecution should promptly conduct search and seizure before evidence is destroyed and impose travel bans to show their determination to investigate."
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