Lee Kyung "Cleared of Wemade Lobby Allegations"... Kim Woong "As Expected, Starting to Deflect"

As the National Assembly Secretariat disclosed the records of National Assembly access on the 25th amid the 'Wemade lobbying allegations' sparked by Representative Kim Nam-guk's virtual asset investment, there were no records of access to Representative Kim Nam-guk's office among the disclosed records, leading some opposition figures to evaluate that he has been cleared of the lobbying allegations. However, Representative Kim Woong of the People Power Party, who has consistently raised the lobbying allegations against Kim Nam-guk, criticized this as a "diversion."

On that day, the National Assembly Secretariat revealed that Wemade visited the offices of People Power Party representatives Yoon Chang-hyun, Jeong Hee-yong, and Heo Eun-ah, as well as Democratic Party representatives Yang Jeong-sook, Kim Han-gyu, Kim Jong-min, Oh Ki-hyung, and Kim Seong-ju from September 2020 to last April.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Considering that the reason for disclosing the National Assembly visit records, which are normally confidential due to personal information protection, was the lobbying allegations against Representative Kim Nam-guk, it can be seen as partially clearing some of the lobbying suspicions against him. Lee Kyung, Deputy Spokesperson of the Democratic Party, suggested through her social media (SNS) on the same day that "Wemade 'lobbying allegations' have been cleared. Confirmed through the disclosed National Assembly visit records," implying that Representative Kim Nam-guk has washed away the lobbying allegations with this disclosure.

However, Representative Kim Woong said, "As the Wemade government relations team’s National Assembly visit records were disclosed, the diversion tactics have started again," adding, "The claim that there was no lobbying because there are no visit records to Representative Kim Nam-guk’s office is completely wrong for two reasons."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He explained, "This claim is based on the assumption that 'lobbying only occurs inside National Assembly members’ offices.' In other words, the conclusion that there was no lobbying because there was no visit to the office is only possible if lobbying outside the office is absolutely impossible," and "from a common-sense perspective, if illegal lobbying is to be done, it would be done outside, not in the member’s office where visit records remain."

He added, "Secondly, the flaw in this logic is that lobbying is impossible for people who are not National Assembly members," saying, "If you say that lobbying did not occur because there was no visit to the National Assembly member’s office, then lobbying is impossible for those who do not have a member’s office. That means lobbying for party leaders or high-ranking party officials who are not National Assembly members is fundamentally impossible."

Representative Kim Woong pointed out, "Attention should be paid to the fact that the Wemade government relations team rarely visited the offices of lawmakers who proposed the P2E (Play to Earn) legalization bill. Most of the government relations team visits lawmakers who are negative toward them rather than those who are positive," adding, "It can be seen just by the fact that most of the visited lawmakers, including Yoon Chang-hyun, Kim Han-gyu, and Heo Eun-ah, are negative toward P2E regardless of party affiliation."

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