Ruling Party's Citizen Special Committee Targets Election Support Allegations Against Jeonjangyeon Affiliate Groups

Subsidy Receipt Followed by Election Support Allegations
Jeonjangyeon "Spreading Fake Rumors... Will Report Ha Tae-gyeong"

The Special Committee for the Advancement of Civic Groups under the People Power Party, which continues to criticize the National Solidarity for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Jeonjangyeon), has now raised suspicions of organized election support.

The core of the allegations raised by the Special Committee on the 13th is that the National Solidarity of Parents of Persons with Disabilities (Bumoyeondae), a cooperative organization of Jeonjangyeon, led organized election campaigns during the 2021 Democratic Party presidential primary and last year's local elections. The Special Committee views this as a violation of the Subsidy Act and the Election Act.

At the plenary meeting held at the National Assembly on the same day, Ha Tae-kyung, chairman of the Special Committee on Civic Groups, claimed, "The Seoul branch of Bumoyeondae instructed to recruit electors to support candidate Lee Jae-myung during the 2021 Democratic Party presidential primary," adding, "After the candidate was decided, the organization was mobilized for Democratic Party presidential candidate events, and even afterward, there were messages exchanged in the branch head group chat instructing to report whether to support Democratic Party candidates in the Seoul mayoral and superintendent of education elections."

According to Chairman Ha, after candidate Yoon Seok-yeol won last year's presidential election, Yoon posted in the branch head group chat, "The result we wanted did not come out. It is unfortunate, but we must accept reality and prepare for a new struggle." During last year's local elections, posts also appeared requesting participation in declarations of support for Song Young-gil, the Democratic Party's Seoul mayoral candidate, and Cho Hee-yeon, a progressive candidate for Seoul superintendent of education.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Chairman Ha pointed out that "civic groups receiving subsidies from the state should not be involved in organized election campaigns," calling it a violation of the Election Act and the Subsidy Act. He added, "The statute of limitations for the Election Act has passed, but the Subsidy Act is still valid."

The Bumoyeondae side stated, "We are currently organizing our position and will announce it soon."

The Special Committee on Civic Groups continues to pressure Jeonjangyeon day by day. Earlier, on the 5th, they raised suspicions that Jeonjangyeon fraudulently received subsidies from Seoul City and forcibly mobilized persons with disabilities for protests.

In response, Jeonjangyeon countered by saying they would file a complaint against Chairman Ha for spreading false information. At a press conference that day, Park Kyung-seok, representative of Jeonjangyeon, said, "Jeonjangyeon is a 'voluntary group' that has only reported a business registration certificate without being registered as a nonprofit organization," adding, "It does not meet the eligibility criteria to apply for Seoul City subsidies. We request confirmation whether subsidies have been disbursed to Jeonjangyeon in the past 10 years."

He also urged, "We will no longer tolerate the continuous spread of fake rumors," and called on "Seoul City to transparently disclose the 'audit results' that were falsely fabricated, edited, and announced by the Special Committee."

Currently, the police have begun a full-scale investigation into the allegations of improper subsidy receipt requested by the Special Committee on Civic Groups.

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