"Whistleblower Has Extensive Experience in Manipulation"…Criticism Within Party Over 'Keyman' Kim Woong's Inconsistent Clarifications

Kim Woong, member of the People Power Party./Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Allegations are rapidly spreading that in April last year, when Yoon Seok-yeol was serving as Prosecutor General, the Investigation Information Policy Officer of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office instructed the opposition party to file complaints against pro-government politicians.

In particular, the suspicions have intensified as the explanations of Kim Woong, a member of the People Power Party who was identified as the intermediary who received the complaint from Prosecutor Son Joon-sung (then Investigation Information Policy Officer), keep changing. Voices criticizing Kim's unclear explanations have also emerged within the party.

On the 7th, Kim Woong raised the possibility in multiple media interviews that the complaint instruction allegations might have been fabricated by a whistleblower currently in another party's presidential candidate camp.

In an interview with Kyunghyang Shinmun on the same day, Kim said, "(It is) all possibly true that I received the complaint and judgment documents from Prosecutor Son. I really don't remember," but also claimed, "I did not receive and pass them on, so there is a possibility it was fabricated. The person called the whistleblower, whom I later found out about, has a lot of experience fabricating things like this."

In an interview with Dong-A Ilbo, Kim said, "The whistleblower was then a party secretariat member trying to catch both former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol and former People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Seung-min," adding, "The moment that person is revealed, we will know which faction they belong to." In an interview with Hankyoreh, he said, "I understand that the party official in question has now joined a specific camp."

However, since the allegations first surfaced on the 2nd, Kim has maintained an ambiguous stance and avoided giving clear answers. After the reports, he issued two statements repeating phrases such as "I don't remember if I received the complaint" and "Even if I passed it on, I don't know the contents," which further fueled suspicions. In this situation, he has now raised the possibility that the allegations were fabricated.

In response, Kim Tae-heum, a member of the same party, issued a statement criticizing, "Kim Woong, the person involved in the controversy, is amplifying suspicions by leaking only fragmented information to the media without clearly revealing the substantive truth and behaving ambiguously."

He added, "Kim Woong's behavior is an enormous act of harm to the party as it provides bait for the ruling party, masters of political manipulation," emphasizing, "Kim Woong must promptly and thoroughly clarify the facts regarding all allegations."

Meanwhile, Kim Woong is scheduled to hold a press conference at the National Assembly on the morning of the 8th to announce his position.

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