Yoo Dong-gyu: "I wish Lee Jae-myung would stop lying... Riding a two-seater cart with Kim Moon-gi"

A photo taken in January 2015 during an overseas trip to New Zealand, showing Lee Jae-myung, then mayor of Seongnam and current leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, together with Yoo Dong-gyu, former Planning Director of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, and the late Kim Moon-gi, former Head of Development Division 1 at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation (left), and a photo of Lee and the late Kim holding hands.
[Photo by People Power Party]

On the 17th, Yoo Dong-gyu, former Planning Director of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, fired a direct shot at Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who denies knowing the late Kim Moon-gi, head of Development Division 1 at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation during Lee’s tenure as mayor of Seongnam, saying, "I wish he would stop lying."

He detailed specific circumstances, including that during an overseas business trip when Lee was mayor, he played golf riding a two-seater cart together with Kim, and explained Kim’s position at the corporation at that time, arguing that it is logically unacceptable for Lee to claim he did not know Kim while serving as mayor.

After the morning trial of the Daejang-dong case held at the Seoul Central District Court ended that day, former Director Yoo met with reporters and, when asked if he had any comments on Lee’s second court appearance, replied, "I wish he would stop lying, I’m telling you."

He said, "(Lee) also said he had no relationship with Kim Man-bae, but what was recently revealed is that a Grade 2 public official is a high-ranking position among 8,000 Gyeonggi Province public officials, ranking within the top five excluding the governor and vice governor," adding, "Someone closely connected to Kim Man-bae was in that position. Since this has recently come to light, these relationships are gradually being revealed, and I think the mask will be taken off."

When asked if Lee also said he did not know Kim Moon-gi in relation to golf, he stated, "I will testify about this later in court, but the cart is a two-seater, which the media has misunderstood," and "We rented two two-seater carts; I used one, and Kim Moon-gi personally drove the other to assist Governor Lee Jae-myung."

He continued, "At foreign public golf courses, the rough is long, so you often lose your ball. After teeing off, you have to find your ball, but since there are usually no caddies like in Korea, you have to find it yourself," adding, "During that process, (Lee) would say things like, 'Team Leader Kim, are you there?' We talked about all that. But to say that they never even made eye contact is something that is logically unacceptable, and it’s really hard to even talk about it."

When asked if Kim Moon-gi reported directly to Lee multiple times, Yoo said, "He was the top person in charge. Our company’s team leader is actually equivalent to a section chief at City Hall. Not just a team leader," explaining, "Because our organization is team-based, our team leader is above section chief level and is the highest-ranking among our staff."

He added, "Therefore, he was someone who went directly to report and handle matters."

Meanwhile, Lee appeared for the second time at the Seoul Central District Court for a trial on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act.

Lee is on trial without detention for allegedly making false statements related to former Director Kim and Baekhyeon-dong (false facts disclosure under the Public Official Election Act).

The prosecution judged that Lee’s statements on multiple broadcasts claiming he did not know the lower-ranking Kim during his time as mayor of Seongnam when the Daejang-dong development project was underway, and that he only came to know the project details from a knowledgeable practitioner after being elected governor of Gyeonggi Province in 2018 and after the election law lawsuit began, were false.

Based on Kim’s mobile phone and laptop, Yoo’s testimony, photos released by Kim’s family, voice recordings, and testimonies from related parties, the prosecution confirmed circumstances indicating that Lee knew Kim not only during his tenure as mayor of Seongnam when the Daejang-dong project was promoted but also from his time as a lawyer, leading to this conclusion.

The prosecution also confirmed that Kim had already saved Lee’s contact as "Lee Jae-myung Lawyer" on his mobile phone in 2009, and that during an official overseas trip to Australia and New Zealand in 2015, when Lee was mayor of Seongnam, the two skipped official schedules to play golf together.

At the trial that day, Lee’s defense attorney said, "There is one peculiar point in the photos and videos of the defendant and Kim Moon-gi taken together: the two never made eye contact," adding, "It really seemed strange, but it makes it easy to understand the nature of the relationship between the defendant and Kim Moon-gi."

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