Park Young-sun: "The Opposition Enlarged the Issue with MBC Injunction Application... The Public Will Be Curious"

About Kim Geon-hee: "I knew her before marrying Yoon"
"She has excellent planning skills... She won't be taken advantage of unilaterally"

Park Young-sun, Chairperson of the Digital Transformation Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea Election Countermeasures Committee (left) / Photo by MBC Broadcasting Capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Park Young-sun, Chair of the Digital Transformation Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea's Election Countermeasures Committee, criticized the People Power Party's injunction request to ban MBC's broadcast, calling it "a complete escalation of the situation."

MBC had obtained a recorded phone conversation of Kim Gun-hee, the spouse of People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol, and planned to report on it. However, on the 13th, the People Power Party submitted an injunction request to ban the broadcast.

On the 14th, in an interview with MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus,' Chair Park said, "I think the People Power Party's action (the injunction request) only aroused more curiosity."

According to the internet media outlet 'Seoul's Voice,' a reporter affiliated with this outlet reportedly had over 50 phone calls totaling about 7 hours and 45 minutes with Kim from July to December last year. MBC had planned to air the recording on the 16th. However, the People Power Party immediately opposed this and submitted an injunction request against MBC.

MBC has announced that it will report on the 7-hour phone call recordings of Kim Geon-hee, wife of Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate. On the morning of the 14th, Kim Ki-hyun, floor leader of the opposition party, and other opposition floor leaders visited MBC to protest. / Photo by Yonhap News

Lee Yang-soo, Chief Spokesperson of the People Power Party's Election Countermeasures Headquarters, stated in a notice on the 13th, "Considering the approach to Kim, the topics of conversation, the number of calls, the duration, and the content, it is clear that these are private conversations and cannot be considered journalist interviews," and added, "From the first approach to the last call, it is evident that this is an illegal recording made secretly without any private notice."

Regarding this, Chair Park said, "I do not know the content of the conversation, but if the People Power Party is this shaken, I think it must contain stories with considerable destructive power in the public domain," and questioned, "Otherwise, would they go this far?"

She continued, "There are reports that the People Power Party plans to visit MBC to protest, but that action itself gives the public the impression that 'the problem is really serious.'"

She also described Kim, saying, "I knew her even before she married candidate Yoon," and "She was transitioning from a journalist to a politician, and at that time, she was a person who organized planned exhibitions and gave a very challenging impression."

Furthermore, she claimed, "Regarding the recordings, I do not think someone with such excellent planning skills would be one-sidedly defeated."

On the morning of the 14th, Kim, the floor leader, is making a protest speech in front of the MBC building in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul / Photo by Yonhap News

Meanwhile, the People Power Party continued to criticize MBC's decision to broadcast Kim's recordings on the 14th. Kim Ki-hyun, the party's floor leader, said at the morning floor countermeasures meeting held at the National Assembly, "MBC seems to be acting as a campaigner for candidate Lee Jae-myung at this critical time, just about 50 days before the presidential election," and criticized, "It reeks of political manipulation and reminds me of 'Saengtaetang Season 2'."

He added, "It is unreasonable to air recorded calls without consent on a public broadcaster, and MBC has previously impersonated the police during coverage of candidate Yoon's spouse."

On the other hand, the ruling party opposed this, calling it an act of restricting press freedom. Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party, attending the election headquarters leadership meeting that day, pointed out, "The People Power Party, which opposes the Media Arbitration Act and claims to defend press freedom, stormed MBC to obstruct the broadcast of Kim Gun-hee's recordings. This blatant interference with judicial processes and gagging of the media is self-contradictory."

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