Yeo Criticizes Lee Jae-myung-Song Young-gil Relationship 'Offensive'..."30-Minute Phone Call"

Mentioning 'Sponsor Allegations' to Launch Offensive
Suspicions Grow Over Lee-Song Honeymoon Relationship

The People Power Party launched an offensive by mentioning the 2021 Democratic Party of Korea's party convention money envelope scandal and its connection to Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party leader. This comes after reports emerged that there was a sponsor who provided funds related to the scandal, and that the sponsor's child worked in Lee's presidential campaign. The so-called 'honeymoon relationship' suspicion between Lee and former leader Song Young-gil has also come back into focus.

On the 20th, Kim Ki-hyun, the party leader, pressed during the Supreme Council meeting, "It is said that Lee had a 30-minute phone call with former leader Song. What on earth did they talk about? Did they conspire to cover up the truth by coordinating their stories?"

He continued, "To clear the suspicion that there was a hidden intention (Lee Sim) behind former leader Song's 'money party convention' incident, Lee should immediately order Song's return and instruct and encourage the Democratic Party to actively cooperate with the investigation. At the very least, why has there been no action taken against lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Sung-man, who have been identified as the money envelope distributors? The suspicion that there is some untold dark secret is only growing," he pointed out.

The ruling party's targeting of Lee with the phrase 'Lee Sim Song Sim' (meaning Lee Jae-myung's mind is the same as Song Young-gil's mind) is due to reports related to the 'sponsor.' On the 19th, JTBC's 'Newsroom' raised the possibility that there was a sponsor who funded the money envelopes distributed to secure former leader Song's election as party leader. They also released a related recording, claiming that the sponsor's child joined Lee Jae-myung's presidential campaign during the last election.

The recording is a phone call between Lee Jung-geun, the former Democratic Party deputy secretary-general and a key suspect in this case (currently detained and indicted), and Kang Rae-gu, the standing auditor of Korea Water Resources Corporation, mentioning a sponsor suspected to be the source of the money envelope funds. The media also released a recording stating that around October 2021, after the party convention ended, the sponsor's child joined Lee's presidential campaign.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (left), and former leader Song Young-gil. [Image source=Yonhap News]

There had been voices raising the 'Lee Sim Song Sim' suspicion before. After former leader Song won the 2021 party convention, suspicions that Lee and Song had a 'honeymoon relationship' were raised mainly by the reformist faction within the party. When former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and lawmaker Kim Du-kwan, who had withdrawn from the race midway, had their votes invalidated by the party leadership, Lee was able to secure a direct spot in the final round without a runoff.

If the votes for the withdrawn candidates had not been invalidated, Lee's vote share would not have reached a majority, and he would have had to face former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon in a runoff. At the time, Lee Nak-yeon's camp strongly protested, but the party affairs committee rejected the objection, finalizing Lee as the presidential candidate and ending the controversy for the time being.

Also, after Lee lost the presidential election, Song's constituency in Incheon Gyeyang was vacated when Song suddenly resigned from his parliamentary seat to run for Seoul mayor, a position he had not previously held. Lee then succeeded to this constituency by winning the by-election, further fueling suspicions of a honeymoon relationship. Song, who had also served as mayor of Incheon, abruptly ran for Seoul mayor and resigned from his parliamentary seat, leaving the constituency vacant for Lee to inherit.

However, Lee has been reserved on this matter. Regarding the money envelope scandal, Lee personally apologized ahead of the Supreme Council meeting on the 17th and requested former leader Song to return early.

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