Eastar Union Releases Recording of Democratic Party Presidential Primary Manipulation...Pressuring 'Performance' by Branch

As Eastar Jet notified 605 employees of layoffs, raising concerns about mass unemployment in the aviation industry, officials are entering the temporary shareholders' meeting held on the 9th at Eastar Jet headquarters in Gangseo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] A recording has been released revealing that Eastar Jet, founded by Lee Sang-jik, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, mobilized employees to participate in ARS voting during the Democratic Party presidential primary in 2017.

According to the 'Eastar Jet 2017 Democratic Party Primary ARS Voting Manipulation Recording' released by the Eastar Jet Labor Union on the 11th, former Executive Director Kim Yu-sang urged company employees to participate in the ARS primary voting at a gathering.

In the recording, Executive Director Kim said, "I apologize for asking and encouraging you like this as an extra favor even though you are busy with company work," adding, "Some people received the message properly, some did not. Some teams are not participating. Hey, just get ten people, twenty people, if you gather that, it will be huge. Sorry for speaking so strongly, but even 1,000 people can do it."

He continued, "If it were a vote or logic supervised by the National Election Commission, the predetermined rules would never change. But since this is a political party, this is possible," emphasizing, "In short, this is an X-file. Political parties change their stance just like that; once the meeting ends with a bang, it's over. Honestly, the reason Lee Sang-jik was not nominated was because of reverse selection."

Executive Director Kim also criticized the employees' 'performance' as poor. He said, "But those who brought it today, some couldn't gather 20 people, some gathered 5, some twenty-something, some three, this is not right," adding, "Mr. Kim ㅇㅇ, I'm talking about you." He also checked the situation at each branch. When Executive Director Yoo asked, "Who did you talk to in Gimpo? What about the Incheon branch manager?" the Incheon branch manager replied, "Yes, all our branch members are participating."

He added, "We are not spending money to recruit anyone; I hope you think of this as political participation," and said, "Regarding Moon Jae-in's Jeonbuk declaration, you can see that the numbers are counted daily. This data also goes to the central campaign."

He also cautioned that new employees should be handled carefully. Executive Director Kim said, "If new employees are forced, they will all post on Blind, they will blow up Blind. I hope you don't force them."

Meanwhile, on the same day, Lee issued a statement denying media reports that his child, who was the representative of Eastar Holdings, the largest shareholder of Eastar Jet, spends 400 million won annually on living expenses.

He said, "Malicious false reports continue without even the minimum fact-checking regarding the public official asset declaration I submitted upon taking office as a member of the 21st National Assembly," adding, "The living expenses my daughter declared for one year amount to 40 million won."

He further stated, "As the founder, I have made many efforts to help Eastar Jet, which has fallen into difficulties. However, I was cautious because it could be seen as inappropriate conduct by a sitting lawmaker," and requested, "Please report only verified facts to prevent unnecessary misunderstandings."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.