Senior Secretary for Political Affairs: "No Discussion Even on Taeyoungho Nomination Story... Received Apology"

Allegations of Nomination Mention: "It's the Party's Job, Not the Presidential Office's"
Senior Secretary Lee Jin-bok: "Mostly Discussed the Party Convention at the Time"

Lee Jin-bok, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs at the Presidential Office, denied on the 2nd the allegation that he "asked Tae Young-ho, a Supreme Council member of the People Power Party, to make supportive remarks about Korea-Japan relations while mentioning the nomination issue."

Lee held a press briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office that morning and stated, "The nomination issue is handled by the party, not here (the Presidential Office)."

He explained, "If someone asks me for my opinion, I can respond, but I am not in a position to grant nominations to anyone. We did not even have such discussions. Tae called and apologized to the staff, saying, 'I think I exaggerated a bit while explaining, sorry.'"

When a reporter asked, "You said you received an apology from Representative Tae, but is the controversy over nomination interference or party affairs interference something that can be resolved by an individual's apology?" Lee replied, "Is there anything I can do about what the members themselves said? That is a matter for the party to judge."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

When a reporter asked, "Representative Tae explains that the exaggeration was made to reassure his staff and encourage legislative activities. What kind of conversation took place between Representative Tae and you that led to calling it an exaggeration?" Lee answered, "Since it was between him and me, I assume he conveyed my words. We mainly talked about the election that day. We mostly discussed the party convention, the hardships during the election, and the activities traveling nationwide."

He continued, "When I said, 'There was controversy over the April 3 issue during the party convention, and when talking about April 3, I first made a comment about the victims of goodwill. I regret that those words were not conveyed,' Representative Tae said, 'I mentioned it, but the media did not pick it up well, so it was not reported.' He said, '(You) should pay close attention to such legislative activities.' That was about it, and I did not say anything that would become a particular issue."

Earlier, MBC reported that it had obtained a recording related to the allegation in which Supreme Council member Tae made remarks to his staff at the National Assembly members' office building on March 9.

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