Lee Nak-yeon Side: "Lee Jae-myung's Gyeonggi Province Promotion Budget 43.8 Billion Won... 45% Increase Compared to Former Governor Nam Kyung-pil's Term"

Annual average promotion cost of 12 billion KRW during former Governor Nam Kyung-pil's tenure
Spokesperson Bae Jae-jung: "'Lee Jae-myung risk' should not escalate into a Democratic Party risk"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The camp of former Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Nak-yeon escalated its offensive on the 29th against Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung's 'free legal defense allegations,' and on the 30th continued criticism by pinpointing the so-called 'Governor's chance' issue one by one. In particular, they pressured for a detailed disclosure of the promotional expenses, noting that the advertising costs executed during Governor Lee's tenure increased by 45% compared to the previous governor.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On this day, Bae Jae-jung, spokesperson for Lee Nak-yeon's Pil-yeon Camp, stated in a commentary, "Although it is belated, Candidate Lee Jae-myung should now show an attitude of revealing everything transparently if he is confident and apologize for any mistakes," emphasizing, "The 'Lee Jae-myung risk' must not escalate into a Democratic Party risk and become an obstacle to establishing the 4th Democratic government."

Spokesperson Bae then mentioned 'favoritism in appointments,' 'Gyeonggi Province promotional expenses,' and 'disclosure of leave usage,' pressing Governor Lee.

He particularly focused on the advertising expenses executed by the Gyeonggi Provincial Government. Bae pointed out, "From 2019, when Governor Lee Jae-myung took office, until June of this year, the amount spent on advertisements to media outlets was 43.8 billion won," adding, "This is a 45% increase compared to the average annual promotional expenses (12 billion won) during the tenure of former Governor Nam Kyung-pil."

He revealed, "In March, Democratic Party member of the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly Shin Jeong-hyun requested data on promotional expenses and budgets within project expenses from the Gyeonggi Provincial Government's spokesperson office, public relations planning department, and each division and bureau, as well as promotional expenses from 26 affiliated organizations of the province," and stated, "The province submitted only partial data to the assembly and refused to provide detailed expenditure by media outlet, citing concerns over harming corporate interests. To dispel controversies that Candidate Lee is pouring a large budget into promoting his provincial administration achievements and policies for the presidential election, the detailed promotional expense records must be fully disclosed."

Alongside this, favoritism in appointments was also criticized. Spokesperson Bae said, "Not only the appointment incident of the president of the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization but also the Gyeonggi Province Job Foundation labor union reportedly filed a complaint requesting investigation into allegations of irregular hiring for two team leader positions," pointing out, "There was also a case where a person who volunteered in Candidate Lee's 2018 Gyeonggi Province governor election campaign was hired as the head of the Gyeonggi Transportation Training Institute's office without a separate recruitment announcement."

Furthermore, he criticized, "While the National Assembly requested 17 metropolitan governors to disclose their leave usage records, Candidate Lee was the only one who did not submit the data citing 'privacy' reasons," explaining, "Candidate Lee is maintaining his position as Gyeonggi Province governor while traveling nationwide as a presidential candidate. The demand to disclose leave usage records to verify whether Governor Lee is distinguishing between public and private duties in performing his gubernatorial role is entirely reasonable."

Spokesperson Bae emphasized, "The 'onion-style favoritism appointments' and the attitude of ignoring data submission requests from the National Assembly and Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly members constitute the 'Lee Jae-myung risk,'" adding, "It must not escalate into a Democratic Party risk."

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