'Gas Station Fuel Fraud' Allegations from 14 Years Ago Resurface
"The Real 'Drum Barrel Politics' Is Yoon Seok-youl's Insurrection"
Na Kyung-won, a member of the People Power Party who carried out the so-called 'drum barrel performance' targeting Lee Jae-myung, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is facing a 'counterattack.' Following immediately by Democratic Party lawmaker Mo Kyung-jong's parody of 'Yeonghyeonbaek,' a police complaint has also been filed. Some quarters are even revisiting the 'gas station fuel fraud' allegations surrounding Na Kyung-won from 14 years ago.
Regarding the 'drum barrel remark' by Na Kyung-won, a member of the People Power Party (left), Mo Kyung-jong, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, responded with a parody. Na's Instagram, Mo's Facebook
On the 16th, the Democratic Party's False Information Monitoring Unit, known as the Democratic Police Station, held a press conference at the National Assembly and announced that they had filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against Na Kyung-won for the crimes of false statement and defamation. The Democratic Police Station stated, "The 'drum barrel' used in this image is a symbol repeatedly used in the far-right community 'Ilgan Best' to slander candidate Lee Jae-myung with false frames," adding, "This image was distributed to reporters through Na's KakaoTalk public relations chatroom."
They also said, "It is very shameful that a ruling party's presidential candidate adopted claims from a nationally despised community without any criticism," and added, "We will hold legal and political responsibility to the end for all false and manipulated information about the Democratic Party's primary candidates."
Earlier, Na Kyung-won criticized candidate Lee by posting on her social media a photo of herself inside a drum barrel along with the message, "Even if I have to go into a drum barrel, I will never surrender." The drum barrel has been used maliciously to disparage former leader Lee since it appeared in the 2013 film New World, where gangsters confined people in drum barrels to threaten or dispose of bodies, and has since been adopted by far-right communities as a derogatory expression.
Na's drum barrel performance immediately sparked backlash from Democratic Party lawmakers. On the previous day, lawmaker Mo Kyung-jong posted on his Facebook account a photo of himself inside a 'Yeonghyeonbaek' with a placard reading, "Even if I have to go into Yeonghyeonbaek, I will not surrender." He wrote, "The reality where someone aspiring to be president mixes delusions with truth, the 'delusional politics,' is causing many citizens to shudder," adding, "We will correct this abnormal society that mocks the people with absurd delusions."
'Yeonghyeonbaek' is a special carrying case used to transport the remains of fallen or deceased soldiers. Last year, it was revealed that the Army purchased 3,000 of these cases ahead of the 'December 3 Emergency Martial Law,' raising suspicions that former President Yoon Seok-youl intended to use them to deal with Democratic Party figures. Na's drum barrel performance was immediately countered by the invocation of Yeonghyeonbaek.
Moreover, Na's drum barrel performance has dragged up controversies from 14 years ago. On the same day, Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Seong-hoe posted on his Facebook account, "Let's find out why Na Kyung-won needs a drum barrel," along with an article from 2011 titled "Na Kyung-won spent 57 million won on fuel over two years... refueling up to four times a day." The article pointed out that during her time as the Grand National Party (the predecessor of the People Power Party) Seoul mayoral candidate, Na spent about 30 million won of political funds on fuel between 2009 and 2010. At the time, allegations of 'gas station fuel fraud' had also arisen.
Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Moon-soo also fiercely criticized the performance, saying, "Na Kyung-won, who lives off the privileges of the elite in the daylight, can only resort to such vulgar drum barrel antics." He claimed, "The real 'drum barrel politics' was planned by Yoon Seok-youl's insurrection forces," adding, "The wounds of the insurrection have not healed, yet starting a presidential game with a far-right meme performance is an insult to the people."
Meanwhile, immediately after the Democratic Party's complaint press conference, Na Kyung-won responded, "We will strongly counter with a countersuit against the Democratic Party's political abuse of lawsuits and complaints." She rebutted, "Why claim that Ilgan Best was the first when memes of Lee Jae-myung were already circulating in other communities and among the public?"
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