Lee Jae-myung, on the '5 Billion Club' List: "They Recklessly Threw Grenades and Insist the One Hit Was Lee Jae-myung"

List of '5 Billion Club' Revealed at Financial Services Commission's National Audit on the 6th
Lee Jae-myung "It Was Like Throwing Grenades... If Facts Are Reported, I Deserve Praise"

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung (left) appeared on June 6 in the "Continuous Interviews with Democratic Presidential Primary Candidates" hosted by the YouTube channel "Yeollin Minjudang TV." Photo by YouTube channel "Yeollin Minjudang TV" video capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate and Governor of Gyeonggi Province, described the so-called 'Hwacheon Daeyu 5 Billion Club' revealed by Park Soo-young, a member of the People Power Party, as "someone who got hit by a grenade insisting that it was Lee Jae-myung."

Earlier, on the 6th, at the National Assembly Financial Services Committee audit, Representative Park disclosed the list of lobby targets known as the '5 Billion Club,' who either received or were promised to receive large sums of money from Hwacheon Daeyu, the investment company involved in the Daejang-dong project in Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province. Park stated, "Lee and the Democratic Party claim this is a People Power Party gate because Representative Kwak Sang-do is involved, but dismissing this incident as a gate of a specific party obstructs the substantive truth-finding process."

Regarding this, Kim Eui-gyeom, a member of the Open Democratic Party, who conducted a series of interviews with Democratic presidential primary candidates on the YouTube channel 'Open Democratic Party TV,' commented, "(Representative Park) threw a grenade to his own side." Lee responded, "He just threw it recklessly."

Regarding suspicions that internal opinions to include clauses on excess profit recovery from private developers were ignored during the Daejang-dong project agreement at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, Lee said, "I was not even informed," and rebutted, "It doesn't make logical sense."

He added, "According to my design policy, the bid was based on fixed (recovery), and if they demanded more, it would violate the bidding conditions," and explained, "The logic that ignoring internal opinions to receive 600 million won instead of 500 million won when selling a house is embezzlement does not hold."

He continued, "The plan was designed to take back from thieves," and added, "Because of this, public officials or those who made detailed plans cannot commit fraud."

Regarding the prosecution's investigation into preferential treatment allegations in the Daejang-dong development project, he questioned, "Is it reasonable to suddenly start here and hastily accuse embezzlement?" and expressed suspicion, "It makes one think, 'Isn't Lee Jae-myung also an accomplice?'"

On claims that Yoo Dong-gyu, former Planning Director of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, is a close aide of Lee, he called it "a kind of trap," and drew a line, saying, "This friend, who was clearly close to me but has left, also threw a bomb."

Meanwhile, Lee emphasized the importance of media reform in relation to reports on the Daejang-dong allegations. He asserted, "That's why media reform is important," and claimed, "If facts are reported neutrally, it would be something I should be praised for."

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