Candidate Kang Jin-won denies involvement in allegations of bribery...

Independent Candidate A's Solo Actions Falsely Blamed on Me

[Gangjin=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-su] Kang Jin-won, the Democratic Party of Korea's preliminary candidate for Gangjin County Governor in Jeonnam, emphasized that he is "unrelated" to the allegations of bribery.

Kang Jin-won explained the situation at the time, saying, "I once visited a restaurant in Gangjin-eup to greet a regular meal gathering of about 10 female farmers, and preliminary candidate Lee Seung-ok had also been there earlier. At that gathering, there was also preliminary candidate A, who was cut off by the Democratic Party and was about to run as an independent for a basic council member."

He added, "I greeted them and was sitting briefly having a drink when preliminary candidate A took the business card from my hand and handed it out to people."

Kang said, "One of the attendees said to basic council candidate A, 'Uncle, since we're having tea, could you give us some money for the tea?' Later, I heard that candidate A took out his wallet and gave about 100,000 won."

He explained, "The news edited and broadcasted slow-motion scenes as if I was watching cash being exchanged, but that is not true," emphasizing, "The restaurant was noisy because it was a drinking party, and I was looking around the audience while giving greetings, so I was completely unaware of what happened next to me in an instant."

In fact, when preliminary candidate A handed over the money, Kang was at some distance, and there was an attendee sitting on a chair between them, blocking Kang's view.

He further claimed, "Despite these circumstances, a person presumed to be from the opposing candidate's side illegally seized CCTV footage without a judicial search warrant under the pretext of 'losing gold,'" adding, "They distributed it to media outlets and requested a retrial from the central party to falsely accuse me of giving bribes."

Kang stated, "The act of falsely accusing me of bribery is a lowly act of serious defamation and interference with a fair election," and expressed his intention to take strong legal action.

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