Park Beom-gye's Alleged Participation in Lee's Special Advisor Group Chat... Clash Between Ruling and Opposition Parties

Ruling Party: "The 방 unrelated to official campaign committee operations... Minister Park has already left"
Opposition: "Clear violation of election law"

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye is holding a 'Serious Accident Case Practitioners Meeting' at the Pyeongtaek Branch of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office on the 18th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kang Wooseok] The ruling and opposition parties continue to clash over media reports that Park Beom-gye, Minister of Justice, participated in a Telegram group chat for Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea.

On the afternoon of the 24th, Kwon Hyuk-gi, Deputy Director of Public Relations for the Democratic Party’s election campaign committee, stated at a briefing room in the central party office in Seoul, "The group chat in question is like a notification room where acquaintances with phone contacts are invited to distribute candidate promotional materials, and currently thousands of people are invited to the room," adding, "It has been confirmed that Minister Park has since left."

The People Power Party immediately criticized the situation. Lee Yang-su, Senior Spokesperson for the People Power Party’s election campaign headquarters, said, "The current Minister of Justice is in a Telegram room where dozens of lawmakers supporting candidate Lee and about 3,000 key Democratic Party figures communicate election campaign situations and information," and pointed out, "If any information was shared with the intention of exerting undue influence on the election or affecting the election results, it is a clear violation of election law."

He continued, "Minister Park should resign from his position as Minister of Justice, apologize to the public, and face the consequences," and raised his voice, saying, "Candidate Lee and the election campaign committee should also disclose the entire list of members who joined the problematic Telegram room and reveal in detail what election information was shared."

The Democratic Party also continued to rebut. The Democratic Party’s Public Relations team said, "The room that Minister Park was invited to and then left is an open chat room unrelated to the operation of the election campaign committee, where acquaintances supporting candidate Lee Jae-myung are collectively invited to share promotional materials," and mentioned, "Minister Park was invited and left without his consent."

They added, "Knowing the fact that it is a Telegram room where about 3,000 people communicate, the People Power Party maliciously issued comments and we hope they retract those comments," sharply criticizing them.

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