[Insight & Opinion] YouTube Shakes the National Assembly Audit... No Apology Given

[Asia Economy] At the National Assembly audit last October, Kim Eui-gyeom, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, raised suspicions about a drinking party at a bar in Cheongdam-dong involving Han Dong-hoon, the Minister of Justice. Claiming to have received a tip-off, he asked if Han remembered going to a drinking party on the night of July 19 and asserted, "There were 30 lawyers from Kim & Chang. President Yoon Seok-yeol also joined this gathering." Kim also played a recording file containing a voice-modulated female voice. This woman, who claimed to be a cellist, said the following.

"Originally, it was something done by gathering those Kim & Chang guys, but Han Dong-hoon and Yoon Seok-yeol all came. They drank and sang. There were also bodyguards. Han Dong-hoon sang. The place we went to was the Galleria alley. He said he would sing 'Dongbaek Agassi' (Camellia Lady). He asked for a performance. He likes it when you perform songs he knows. 'Dongbaek Agassi' was sung by Yoon Seok-yeol."

From the start, the story lacked credibility. The idea that a president, who is always accompanied by bodyguards, would have a drinking party with dozens of people in the early hours, or that 30 Kim & Chang lawyers would gather at that time, was surreal. The Galleria alley only has apartments and no such bars. At that time, Minister Han said, "If I was at the place or even nearby, I would stake everything including my ministerial position," and asked, "What would you stake, Congressman?" but Kim did not stake anything.

Weeks passed. Facts have been gradually revealed. The police confirmed the location information of Lee Se-chang, whom the cellist and Congressman Kim identified as a drinking companion, showing that he was in the Yeongdeungpo-gu and Gangseo-gu areas from that night until the next morning. There are also indications that the situation escalated because a conversation he had with his ex-boyfriend, who was questioning where he was at night, was recorded and unknowingly passed to the YouTube channel ‘The TamSa’, leading to a bigger issue. Even circumstances related to a love triangle have been revealed through the social network service (SNS) records of the parties involved. Depending on the truth, it seems highly likely that this will turn out to be an absurd and embarrassingly worst scandal.

The harmful effects of extreme YouTube broadcasts, regardless of conservative or progressive leanings, are not a new issue. The YouTube channel that aired the broadcast was notorious for previous programs such as ‘Julie’ and ‘Kim Gun-hee Cohabitation Rumors’. This time, they attracted viewers daily with sensational content like "The cellist’s confession at 3 a.m.: ‘The truth about the drinking king and Han Dong-hoon’" and "Han Dong-hoon, Yoon Seok-yeol, Kim & Chang Rumba Gate, watch this and it’s all sorted!" The problem is that such baseless content has crossed the boundaries of the YouTube world and even entered the National Assembly audit. Kim said, "There was a tip-off, so verification was necessary," but releasing such claims without minimal verification during the audit is not befitting of a lawmaker’s responsibility. Moreover, the Democratic Party tried to escalate the issue by defending Kim at the party level, calling it "an enormous incident equivalent to a second national scandal."

Nevertheless, neither Kim nor the Democratic Party has ever apologized. Ironically, Kim, who serves as the party spokesperson, caused controversy again by distorting facts in a briefing after meeting with party leader Lee Jae-myung and EU Ambassador to Korea Castillo Fernandez. Without reflection or taking responsibility, the same behavior is repeated brazenly.

Umberto Eco said in an interview about his work ‘The Prague Cemetery’ regarding conspiracy theories: "As far as I know, all the great lies that changed history have been proven false. But the most astonishing fact is that even when we prove something is false, people continue to believe it is true."

Regardless of the era or region, today is a day to deeply realize that political responsibility in this matter is not insignificant. Why is there no apology?

Yoo Chang-seon, Political Commentator

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