Kim Woong: "Kim Hyunji Delivering Petition on Nomination Bribery to Byungki Kim Is Like Disclosing Informant to Rapist"

Following the "murder case" analogy the previous day, criticism continues for a second day
"Not just simple nomination corruption, but concealment of power-related crimes"
"Discipline Hyunji Kim for suppressing the petition reporting nomination corr

Former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Woong criticized on January 4 the allegation that a petition related to former Democratic Party floor leader Byungki Kim's alleged nomination bribery was delivered to Kim through Kim Hyunji, Chief of the First Senior Secretary at the Blue House, stating, "It's like reporting a rapist, only to have the identity of the informant disclosed to the rapist."

On the afternoon of the same day, Kim posted on his Facebook a screenshot of a news article reporting that Democratic Party leader Jeong Cheongrae had apologized on his own Facebook page the day before regarding the ongoing nomination bribery controversy and declared, "If any election corruption is uncovered, I will take strict action as party leader." In his post, Kim commented as above.

Kim Woong, former member of the National Assembly from the People Power Party. Photo by Dongju Yoon

In his Facebook post that day, Kim wrote, "Jeong Cheongrae says he will take strict action as party leader if any nomination corruption is uncovered. If that's true, I doubt many Democratic Party lawmakers would survive, but I'm not too worried. It will probably end with, 'He said he would take strict action, so people actually believed him.'"

Kim continued, "However, the 100 million won incident involving Seonwoo Kang and the petition cover-up involving Kim Hyunji are extremely serious acts of corruption. These two incidents are on a different level from previous nomination corruption cases," adding, "Previously, nomination corruption was all about buying and selling nominations. Unfortunately, in a two-party system with single-member districts like ours, this can happen at any time."

He went on, "But these two incidents are fundamentally different in nature. They are not just simple nomination corruption, but cases of concealing power-related corruption."

Kim pointed out, "What is chilling about the Seonwoo Kang 100 million won incident is not the fact that 100 million won was received, but that even after the nomination corruption of Kim Kyung and Seonwoo Kang was confirmed, they still received nominations as they wished."

He added, "The same goes for the Kim Hyunji case. The issue is not just that Byungki Kim received tens of millions of won in exchange for a nomination, but that even after the nomination corruption was revealed and a petition was submitted, the corruption was covered up, and the petition was instead delivered to the criminal, Byungki Kim."

Byungki Kim, former floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (left), and Seonwoo Kang, Democratic Party lawmaker, are attending the plenary session of the National Assembly and having a conversation on December 24 last year. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

Kim continued his criticism by comparing the two nomination corruption cases to rape cases.

He said, "For example, if previous nomination corruption cases are compared to rape cases, the Seonwoo Kang case is like the rapist being exposed but not only being let off the hook, but also being awarded a model citizen prize."

He went on, "The Kim Hyunji case is even more absurd. It's like reporting a rapist, only to have the identity of the informant disclosed to the rapist. Not only that, but it's as if the rapist was then appointed as the chief of police." He further commented, "The rapist is bad, but those who protect the rapist and reveal the informant are even worse."

Kim emphasized, "Therefore, the core issue in these two cases is who concealed the nomination corruption," and called on Jeong Cheongrae to "reveal the influential figure who overturned the decision on nomination ineligibility and gave Kim Kyung a sole nomination, and discipline Kim Hyunji for covering up the petition reporting nomination corruption."

Finally, Kim concluded, "Kwon Seongdong, who received the same 100 million won, was arrested in a flash, but Seonwoo Kang has not even been subjected to a search and seizure. I believe there is a 93.141592% chance that this will be swept under the rug due to 'lack of evidence.'"

Meanwhile, the previous day, Kim also posted on his Facebook under the title "Hyunji Noona Appears Again, and the Criminal Allegations," criticizing the process in which the petition reporting Byungki Kim's nomination bribery was delivered back to Kim via the Chief of the First Senior Secretary, comparing it to reporting a murder case.

In that post, he wrote, "In December 2023, two members of the Dongjak-gu council submitted a petition to Representative Lee Jaemyung. The petition itself begins with 'To Representative Lee Jaemyung.' It reportedly states, 'During the 2020 general election, Byungki Kim's wife received 10 million won and 20 million won from two council members, which was returned after 3 to 5 months.'"

He continued, "According to former lawmaker Lee Sujin, this petition was sent to Lee Jaemyung's office and received by aide Kim Hyunji."

Kim explained, "However, this petition was then delivered to Byungki Kim, who was the head of the verification committee, via the party's ethics audit office. The report of Byungki Kim's corruption ended up going back to Byungki Kim himself. It's like reporting a murder to the police, only to have the report delivered to the murderer."

Kim Hyunji, Chief of the First Senior Secretary at the Blue House, is organizing materials while attending the Senior Secretary Meeting held at the Yongsan Presidential Office on December 4 last year. Photo by Yonhap News

He emphasized, "The key point here is that it was delivered to Kim Hyunji," and speculated, "She is likely the same person as Hyunji Noona, the whistleblower Kim Namkook's sister."

In the same post, Kim analyzed that those involved in this controversy, including the Chief of the First Senior Secretary, could be held legally responsible for violating Article 262-2 of the Public Official Election Act (Protection of Election Crime Reporters), Article 53 of the Political Funds Act (Protection of Political Fund Crime Reporters), and the crime of harboring a criminal.

At the end of the post, he wrote, "But of course, this will never be investigated. How could the police investigate Hyunji Noona, the absolute authority of Mansahyeontong? Byungki Kim's embezzlement was already swept under the rug with a single request, and the Dongjak Police Station has reportedly been covering up Byungki Kim's bribery case since November last year."

He concluded, "Perhaps it's time for the special prosecutor, whom the Democratic Party loves so much, to make an appearance again."