With Kim Kyung-soo's Guilty Verdict Confirmed, Yoon Seok-yeol and Choi Jae-hyung Say "'Distortion of Public Will' Cannot Be Tolerated"

Choi "Public Opinion Manipulation, the Greatest Threat to Liberal Democracy"
Yoon "Serious Problems with the Fundamental Legitimacy of the Current Administration"

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol (left) and Former Board of Audit and Inspection Chairman Choi Jae-hyung [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] On the 21st, Yoon Seok-yeol, a leading opposition presidential candidate and former Prosecutor General, and Choi Jae-hyung, former Board of Audit and Inspection chief, both issued statements regarding the guilty verdict of Kim Kyung-soo, Governor of Gyeongnam Province.

On the same morning, the Supreme Court upheld the original sentence of two years imprisonment for Governor Kim, who was indicted on charges related to the 'Druking comment manipulation' case.

Choi Jae-hyung released his statement first. He said, "I evaluate this as the judiciary's determination not to tolerate distortion of the people's will," and pointed out, "Nowadays, manipulation of public opinion is the greatest threat to liberal democracy." He added, "I hope this ruling will serve as an opportunity to prevent public opinion manipulation from gaining any foothold in our politics."

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol also stated, "The scale of public opinion manipulation and election interference revealed is incomparable even to the 'National Intelligence Service comment incident,'" and said, "Ultimately, the judiciary's ruling confirms that there is a serious problem with the fundamental legitimacy of the current administration."

He further added, "Various methods of public opinion manipulation continue in this presidential election as well," and expressed, "I believe the people will not tolerate any attempts to distort the people's will."

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