Lee Jae-myung, who said "I didn't know Kim Moon-ki," goes on a 10-day overseas business trip and takes photos side by side

Lee Jae-myung's Side: "May Have Known of Existence but Might Not Have Been Close"

A photo taken during an overseas business trip to New Zealand in January 2015, showing Lee Jae-myung, then mayor of Seongnam and the Democratic Party presidential candidate (right). Also visible are Yoo Dong-gyu, former Planning Director of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation (to the left of the candidate), and the late Kim Moon-gi, former Head of Development Division 1 at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation (standing). / Photo by Lee Ki-in, Seongnam City Council member of the People Power Party

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] The People Power Party has additionally released photos showing Kim Moon-gi, the head of Development Team 1 at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation (Seongnam UDC), who died while under investigation for the Daejang-dong development scandal in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, together with Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Lee Gi-in, a Seongnam city council member belonging to the People Power Party’s election campaign committee’s “Lee Jae-myung Corruption National Verification Special Committee,” disclosed two photos on the 23rd taken during a business trip to Australia and New Zealand in 2015, when Lee was the mayor of Seongnam and Kim was the head of Development Team 1.

One photo shows the cityscape in the background, with Lee wearing sunglasses and a hat, and standing right behind him are former Seongnam UDC Planning Headquarters Director Yoo Dong-gyu and Kim. The other photo is a group picture of all 11 people who went on the trip, including Lee, former Director Yoo, and Kim.

Councilman Lee explained that these photos were taken during the business trip to Australia and New Zealand from January 6 to 16, 2015, and that the purpose of the trip was “to investigate advanced cases related to the installation of the Pangyo tram with the mayor.”

Lee raised questions, saying, “For some reason, Director Yoo of the Strategic Business Office and Kim Moon-gi of Development Team 1, who have no connection to the tram, accompanied the mayor on the overseas trip to study advanced tram regions.” He also claimed, based on these photos, that “Lee’s explanation that he did not know Kim while serving as mayor of Seongnam is a blatant lie.”

On the previous day (22nd), Assemblywoman Kim Eun-hye also released a photo showing Lee and Kim attending a seminar hosted by the Seongnam Policy Research Institute in August 2009.

Candidate Lee, former Director Yoo (fourth and fifth from the left in the back row), and Director Kim (second from the left in the front row) in a group photo taken together during a business trip in 2015. Photo by Ki-in Lee, Seongnam City Council member of the People Power Party.

Earlier, Lee appeared on SBS’s “Joo Young-jin’s News Briefing” and explained about Director Kim, “I did not know him while serving as mayor of Seongnam; he was a subordinate staff member. He must have been a team leader at that time, but I got to know him after becoming governor of Gyeonggi Province when he was indicted.”

Regarding the allegations raised by the People Power Party, Lee’s side dismissed them, saying, “Lee might have known of Director Kim’s existence but may not have been close to him.” Park Sung-jun, spokesperson for the Democratic Party’s election campaign committee, appeared on CBS Radio’s “Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show” and said, “When working in an organization, you meet countless people. Even if you work together in a company, there are many cases where you only know faces but do not talk. You might know of the person’s existence, but you may not know about the level of familiarity or closeness.”

Meanwhile, Director Kim was found dead in his office in Bundang-gu, Seongnam City, around 8:30 p.m. on the 21st. Kim had been under investigation by the prosecution and police as a witness regarding allegations that he and former Director Yoo deleted the excess profit recovery clause from the Daejang-dong development project agreement. The bereaved family stated that Kim had been suffering from pressure due to the prosecution and police investigations and disciplinary actions within the company.

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