Yeo Woosangho: "Kim Hyekyung Allegations Seem Not Taken Very Seriously by the Public"

Woo Sang-ho "Does not have a shocking impact... Apologize for causing concern"
Kim Byung-wook "Kim Hye-kyung controversy coverage reminds of late Roh Moo-hyun's 'Nondureong watch'"

Woo Sang-ho, the Chief General Headquarters Director of the Democratic Party of Korea's Election Countermeasures Committee, gave a forecast on the impact of the allegations of imperial protocol and misuse of corporate cards involving Kim Hye-kyung, spouse of presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, on the election landscape. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] Woo Sang-ho, the General Headquarters Chief of the Democratic Party of Korea's Election Countermeasures Committee, commented on the impact of the allegations of imperial protocol and misuse of corporate cards involving Kim Hye-kyung, spouse of presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, on the presidential election landscape, stating, "Although the public views it as inappropriate, compared to several previous incidents, it does not seem to be regarded as that serious."

At a press conference held on the 6th at the Democratic Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, Woo said, "The campaign is very tense and upon close examination, we see that it is affecting the election to some extent, but it does not appear to be having a shockingly significant impact."

Woo added, "Based on various reports, it appears to be an inappropriate errand relationship," but he refrained from elaborating, saying, "Since audits and investigations are ongoing, it does not seem appropriate to comment on the details."

He further explained, "We take a humble and modest stance regarding the concern caused to the public," and said, "We are carefully reviewing the follow-up measures we need to take for the public while monitoring subsequent reports."

Regarding the current presidential election situation, he analyzed, "I believe the two candidates (Lee Jae-myung and Yoon Seok-youl) are still in a close race within the margin of error," adding, "I predicted that candidate Lee would enter a full-fledged upward trend once the TV debates began, but recently, unfavorable incidents for us have occurred, which have had an impact."

Nonetheless, he evaluated candidate Lee’s support base optimistically. He said, "The drop is not significant, so it seems the public is making an appropriate judgment on this issue," and added, "Especially, candidate Lee Jae-myung’s supporters are holding firm with a strong support base that prevents a large decline, even if there is no significant rise."

Meanwhile, on the same day, Kim Byung-wook, head of the Democratic Party’s Election Countermeasures Committee’s Functional Headquarters, warned the media outlets that reported on Kim’s 'imperial protocol' allegations, stating, "They must take responsibility for their reports if proven to be false."

He posted on his Facebook, "Regardless of the truth of the reports about Kim Hye-kyung’s imperial protocol, she has already suffered great damage," and questioned, "How much effort was made to verify the facts related to this report?"

Kim also criticized the report as "an attempt to impose a malicious frame." He said, "It reminds me of the notorious false reports by the media long ago, such as the 'palatial residence' of the late former President Kim Dae-jung in Ilsan, the 'palatial residence' of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun in Jinyeong, and the 'luxury watch scandal' involving the late former President Roh Moo-hyun," emphasizing, "Were those reports ever true? All were proven to be malicious false reports. The media repeatedly makes such false reports and sometimes repeats the same mistakes."

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