Lee Jae-myung "Clear Up Optimus Suspicion First" Lee Nak-yeon 'Direct Criticism'

Lee Nak-yeon's Close Aide Sentenced to Prison for Forging Fake Party Member List in Jeonnam Governor Primary
Lee Jae-myung: "Lee Nak-yeon Should Look Around His Own Circle First"

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential primary candidate and governor of Gyeonggi Province, visited the CBS building in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul on the 14th and appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' to speak about recent issues. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate and Governor of Gyeonggi Province, on the 14th mentioned the 'Optimus suspicion' regarding his intra-party competitor, former party leader Lee Nak-yeon, stating, "He is in a position to first provide an explanation on such matters." He continued, "He was sentenced to prison for creating fake party members in the Jeonnam governor primary election. He is a key close aide," criticizing him.

In an interview on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' that morning, Lee targeted former leader Lee, saying, "The person who pointed out (family) issues to me actually has many stories about close aides or family."

He added, "It is absurd to claim that when I said 'there is a problem with verifying even private life and professional matters,' it was to avoid verifying his own family."

This remark appears to have come during criticism of Jeong Un-hyun, the public relations director of Lee's campaign, who posted on social media that Lee's earlier comment about limiting verification to candidates regarding Kim Kun-hee, wife of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, and the 'Julie' suspicion, might be due to concerns about backlash from the Hye-gyeong-gung Kim case and his own thesis plagiarism case.

SNS post by Jeong Un-hyeon, Public Relations Director for candidate Lee Nak-yeon. Photo by Jeong Un-hyeon

He rebutted, "My wife did suffer unfair treatment and hardship, but that was because the prosecution hated me so much. They prosecuted even when it was impossible, and eventually dismissed the case due to lack of evidence."

Previously, Lee's spouse Kim Hye-kyung was not indicted due to insufficient direct evidence to prove that she was the actual owner of the Twitter account called Hye-gyeong-gung Kim or 'For Justice' (08__hkkim).

Regarding allegations of plagiarism in his master's thesis, Lee said, "Strictly speaking, it is plagiarism because I did not properly cite all sources. So I just admitted it and returned the degree since it was not essential to me, and I have cleanly erased it from my work." When asked if Yoon Seok-youl's wife should also just return the thesis involved in the plagiarism controversy, he replied, "That is for the public to judge."

Regarding the controversy over his brother-in-law's abusive language, he explained, "My brother-in-law was the only one among the siblings who intervened in the city administration, so I blocked him, which led to that."

Former Democratic Party presidential primary candidate and former leader Lee Nak-yeon is announcing the 'Women’s Safety' policy on the morning of the 11th at the National Assembly Communication Office in Yeouido, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

In response to the host's question, "Doesn't candidate Lee Nak-yeon have stability in the general election?" he said, "You have to look at what he did when he held public office (Jeonnam governor, Prime Minister). Holding high positions many times does not mean a person is competent."

Meanwhile, according to the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) on the 13th, in a poll commissioned by TBS conducted on the 9th and 10th among 1,014 men and women nationwide aged 18 and over, Lee Jae-myung scored 29.7% and former leader Lee Nak-yeon 20.6% in suitability as the next progressive presidential candidate. Compared to last week, Lee Jae-myung's support dropped by 2.4 percentage points, while Lee Nak-yeon's rose by 7.7 percentage points.

Regarding the narrowing gap to single digits with candidate Lee Nak-yeon, Lee said, "Approval ratings can suddenly fall or rise within one or two months, or two to three months. Public sentiment is not light but can change instantly, so we must always stay alert. I have been tense so far, but this might be a good opportunity."

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