Jinbok Lee, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs, "Presidential Office Not Involved in Organizational Intervention in Party Convention"

"New Yeo Leadership to Have Dinner with Yoon on the 13th"

Lee Jin-bok, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs at the Presidential Office, drew a line on the 9th regarding allegations that the Presidential Office intervened in the People Power Party's leadership election, stating, "It was not an organized intervention."

After meeting with newly appointed party leader Kim Ki-hyun at the National Assembly that day, Lee told reporters, "If someone is invited to join a group chat, I cannot be the owner of it. It seems that an employee was invited and joined," adding, "The phone call content reported by some media appears to be an individual expression of opinion rather than an organized intervention or election campaign," and said, "It is not a big problem."

Earlier, reports emerged that administrative officers from the Presidential Office's Civil Society Secretariat had continuously posted promotional materials supporting then-candidate Kim Ki-hyun in a group chat, raising suspicions that the Presidential Office was backing a specific candidate.

A recording of a phone call also circulated, in which an administrative officer asked a People Power Party member to promote posts supporting candidate Kim. In relation to this, Ahn Cheol-soo, a candidate for party leader, filed a complaint with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) against Kang Seung-gyu, Senior Secretary for Civil Society at the Presidential Office, on the 7th.

Kim Ki-hyun, leader of the People Power Party, receives a congratulatory orchid sent by the president from Lee Jin-bok, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs of the Presidential Office, at the People Power Party leader's office in the National Assembly on the 9th. Photo by National Assembly Press Photographers Group

When asked by reporters whether the person who made the call was at fault, Lee said, "It seems they did it without much thought. It appears to be a general conversation." He added, "If the other party files a complaint and the content is examined, we will know better," and said, "I am not sure if an internal investigation was conducted within the Presidential Office."

At the meeting between Lee and Kim that day, congratulations and words of encouragement were exchanged. When Lee said, "The people’s livelihoods are difficult, and the President seems to be unable to sleep well at night due to many diplomatic matters. If the party supports as one pillar, please help make the country a happy place for the people," Kim responded, "We will do our best so that the President can focus on national affairs and not worry about party issues."

President Yoon Suk-yeol and the new leadership will have dinner together on the 13th of this month. Lee said, "Since the party has established a foundation for stable operation, I think we can immediately move forward as two pillars alongside the President’s governance based on that foundation," adding, "The Emergency Response Committee is inevitably a limited organization, so it probably could not do what it wanted. In that sense, there are high expectations for the launch of the new leadership."

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