Lee Jae-myung: "Yoon Seok-yeol Should Have More Thoroughly Prevented Relatives' Corruption"

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung is delivering a greeting at the National Assembly forum on the enactment of the Real Estate Market Act held at the Glad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 6th.

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, once again launched a direct attack on former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, saying that the issues of corruption involving Yoon’s mother-in-law and other relatives should have been more thoroughly prevented.

On the 6th, after attending the "National Assembly Debate on the Enactment of the Real Estate Market Act," hosted by 38 members of the National Assembly and organized by Gyeonggi Province at the Glod Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, Lee responded to reporters’ questions regarding former Prosecutor General Yoon’s mother-in-law by stating firmly, "The management of relatives by public officials is truly important. If I had been former Prosecutor General Yoon at that time, I would have ensured that there was no corruption involving the use of authority or reliance on it."

Lee then brought up his painful family history.

He recalled, "The family issues that you all know about and that the public criticizes me for, specifically the verbal abuse within the family, originally stemmed from corruption involving relatives."

He continued, "Those who know might be aware that many rumors spread about my older brother (the late Lee Jae-seon) being involved in some dealings related to the administration of Seongnam City while I was mayor. He also directly gave various orders to public officials, used the title of mayor’s older brother as leverage, and even committed acts of assault and verbal abuse. When things did not go his way, he demanded the personnel team promote some people, discipline others, or demote them," he revealed.

Furthermore, he added, "I had conflicts with my late brother while trying to stop this. I believed that if I allowed him to do as he wished, serious problems would arise later, so I blocked his involvement in city affairs, which led to clashes between us."

Lee explained, "During this process, my brother had my mother call me, and when she refused, he resorted to threats so severe that my mother wandered the neighborhood streets unable to enter the house. When we tried to intervene, he used sexual and disgraceful verbal abuse that no human should utter, which led to arguments between us. This was recorded," he clarified.

He added, "Later, there was also an incident where my brother assaulted my mother, leading to further disputes and recordings. At that time, I even considered whether I should continue holding public office (as mayor of Seongnam), and I honestly thought about resigning," he confessed.

Lee stated, "If I couldn’t prevent relatives from interfering in city administration and interests, I thought I would become even more unhappy later. That’s why I tried to stop it back then, which led to these incidents. Preventing corruption or interference by relatives of public officials is truly difficult. From that perspective, there have been various stories about former Prosecutor General Yoon’s family, and I think those issues should have been more thoroughly and proactively blocked," he added.

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