Is It the Park Ji-won Gate or Just Diversion... Tumultuous Presidential Election Situation

Passport 'Yoon Seok-yeol Gate' Accusations
Opposition Claims Park Ji-won, NIS Director, Involvement

National Assembly Intelligence Committee Meeting Demanded
Yoon Seok-yeol Camp Also Shifts to Offensive

Democrats Strongly Deny, Call It a "Phase Change Tactic"

[Asia Economy Reporters Oh Ju-yeon, Geum Bo-ryeong, Jeon Jin-young] Six months ahead of the presidential election, the ‘gobal saju’ (accusation outsourcing) controversy has struck the political circles of both ruling and opposition parties. Suspected to involve a leading opposition presidential candidate, the opposition has shifted from defense to offense in response to the allegations. Meanwhile, the ruling party continues to claim political interference by the prosecution, framing it as the ‘Yoon Seok-yeol Gate.’

On the 13th, Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party and other intelligence committee members held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Center, claiming that the 'Yoon Seok-yeol Allegation of Prosecutor Report Fabrication' is an incident of direct intervention by Park Ji-won, the Director of the National Intelligence Service, demanding Park's resignation and the convening of the intelligence committee. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

On the 13th, the People Power Party demanded the convening of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee, stating that a thorough investigation is needed regarding the involvement of Park Ji-won, the Director of the National Intelligence Service, in the accusation outsourcing allegations against former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol. Members of the Intelligence Committee issued a statement saying, "Director Park must immediately disclose to the public why he met with Jo Seung-eun and what was discussed in detail."

The Yoon campaign, which had been consistent with defensive explanations, also shifted to offense following the allegations involving Director Park. The Special Committee for the Investigation of Political Manipulation under the Yoon Campaign announced that it would file a complaint with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials against Director Park, Jo, and an unidentified person for violations of the National Intelligence Service Act and the Public Official Election Act.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In response, the People Power Party is moving quickly to demand the convening of the Intelligence Committee at the party level. This is a countermeasure to the Democratic Party’s emergency convening of the Judiciary Committee on the 6th to examine the accusation outsourcing allegations. Floor Leader Kim Ki-hyun pressured, "If the Democratic Party opposes convening the Intelligence Committee and does not cooperate in uncovering the truth about Director Park’s involvement, it is an admission that this incident is a political manipulation."

The Democratic Party strongly rebutted, calling it a "diversion tactic to change the narrative." The party emphasized that the core issue is whether former Prosecutor General Yoon ordered the drafting of the accusation letter and whether Prosecutor Son handed it to People Power Party lawmaker Kim Woong, which must be thoroughly verified through investigation.

On the same day, Floor Leader Yoon Ho-jung stated, "The accusation letter was drafted by Yoon Seok-yeol’s prosecution and outsourced to lawmaker Kim and the People Power Party on April 3 last year, while Director Park was appointed as the head of the National Intelligence Service in July last year," urging, "Stop the obvious trickery and strongly call for cooperation with the Corruption Investigation Office’s investigation."

Yoon Ho-jung, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 13th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

The accusation outsourcing allegations against former Prosecutor General Yoon, reported by the online media Newsbus on the 2nd, appear to be used as mutual attack material by both ruling and opposition parties.

Previously, Newsbus reported that Son Jun-sung, former Policy Officer for Investigation Information at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and a close aide to former Prosecutor General Yoon, drafted an accusation letter against ruling party figures and handed it to People Power Party lawmaker Kim Woong, raising suspicion of accusation outsourcing against ruling party figures. Son Jun-sung denied this outright in a statement on the 6th, and lawmaker Kim said at a press conference on the 8th that he "does not remember," drawing attention to the identity of the whistleblower Jo. Ultimately, on the 10th, when the Corruption Investigation Office conducted a surprise search of lawmaker Kim’s office, Jo acknowledged on a broadcast that he was the whistleblower, marking a new phase in the case.

Jo served as the vice chairman of the United Future Party’s election committee during last year’s general election. He claims to have spoken with lawmaker Kim at the time the accusation letter was delivered, so the truth of this will likely be clarified through investigations by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and the Corruption Investigation Office.

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