Cho Eung-cheon "Taeyoungho Recording? Up to Just Before Presidential Office's Nomination Interference"

BBS Radio 'Jeon Young-shin Morning Journal' Interview
"Taeyoungho Gangnam-gap District, Nomination = Direct Link to Reelection"

Jo Eung-cheon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, claimed that the so-called 'Tae Young-ho recording' "reveals the presidential office's image of giving carrots while whipping to make people work harder."

On the morning of the 2nd, Jo appeared on BBS Radio's 'Jeon Young-shin's Morning Journal' and said, "Tae Young-ho's constituency is Gangnam-gap, an area of absolute dominance by the People Power Party," adding, "Whether he is nominated is directly linked to whether he is re-elected."

He also pointed out that the recording was made the day after the party convention on the 9th of last month. Jo said, "Tae Young-ho should have been very happy the day after winning the party convention and becoming a Supreme Council member," and added, "The content of the meeting with the aides inside the office was leaked as is? This suggests there was a big problem inside the office."

Jo claimed, "In the end, there might have been some resentment about Tae Young-ho pushing too hard in managing his office."

He continued, "Aides and lawmakers always work closely together. If you don't understand something, you can just ask another aide nearby, 'What did the lawmaker say then?' So why record it? Honestly, I don't understand that."

Cho Eung-cheon, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Jo said the presidential office should be cautious regarding the nomination issue. He said, "It seems the presidential office is on the verge of interfering in nominations," adding, "Former President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to prison for interfering in nominations when she was impeached. I don't agree with calls for President Yoon Seok-yeol's impeachment, but this is a very dangerous sign." He emphasized, "The presidential office should be careful and exercise great restraint on this matter. Otherwise, there could be serious consequences later."

Earlier, on the 1st, MBC reported that it had obtained a transcript of a conversation between Supreme Council member Tae and his aides during a meeting on March 9. According to the report, the transcript included Tae's statement that "Lee Jin-bok, the Senior Secretary for Political Affairs at the presidential office, instructed us to make remarks defending the government's efforts to improve Korea-Japan relations while mentioning nomination issues."

However, Tae denied the controversy, stating, "Senior Secretary Lee never mentioned Korea-Japan relations or nomination issues during our meeting." On the 1st, he released a statement on Facebook emphasizing, "My remarks in the recording were exaggerated comments made to reassure aides worried about nominations after the party convention and to encourage them to focus on policy-centered legislative activities."

Senior Secretary Lee also denied the claims, saying, "I never discussed such matters (like nominations)." On the 2nd, he told reporters at the Yongsan presidential office, "Nomination issues are handled by the party, not here (the presidential office). If asked for my opinion, I can respond, but I am not in a position to decide who gets nominations. We never even had such discussions."

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