Presidential Office on Kim Man-bae Interview: "An Unprecedented Presidential Election Plot... The Goal Was Yoon Seok-yeol's Defeat"

"Political Manipulation Attempting to Shift the Main Culprit of the Daejang-dong Scandal from Lee Jae-myung to Yoon Seok-youl"
Criticism of "Unethical Media Coverage" by Broadcasting Stations... "Clear Explanation to the Public Is Required"

The Presidential Office strongly condemned the 'Daejang-dong false interview suspicion' involving Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu, and Shin Hak-rim, former chairman of the Media Union, calling it "an unprecedented presidential election political conspiracy orchestrated by the main culprit of Daejang-dong and a journalist working together."

A senior official from the Presidential Office met with reporters at the Yongsan Presidential Office on the morning of the 5th and said regarding the suspicion, "The political conspiracy to switch the main figure of the Daejang-dong case from Lee Jae-myung to Yoon Seok-yeol is gradually being revealed."

Currently, Kim is suspected of conducting a false interview in March 6, 2022, three days before the presidential election, through Newstapa with former chairman Shin Hak-rim. The interview falsely claimed that Jo Woo-hyung, a loan broker in the Daejang-dong case, was helped by chief prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol during the 2011 Busan Savings Bank investigation, including being served coffee and having the case dismissed. The core of the suspicion is that the Daejang-dong gate’s main figure was fabricated to be candidate Yoon Seok-yeol, and that the recording was released three days before the election to change the election outcome.

In response, the Presidential Office stated, "This is the biggest political conspiracy of the 2022 presidential election, following the lineage of Kim Dae-up’s political conspiracy and Giyang Construction’s fake lobbying exposure." They added, "The fabricated facts and the goal of the conspiracy were to defeat candidate Yoon Seok-yeol. Such political conspiracies and fake news distort public opinion and render the election system useless, posing the greatest threat to democracy."

The official also criticized the media coverage at the time. The official said, "Some media outlets bear considerable responsibility regarding this incident," and added, "There were media outlets, including broadcasters that aired the fabricated interview, which intensively spread fake news." He continued, "They effectively played the role of a large speaker for the planned political conspiracy," and stated, "It is the duty and common sense of the media to undergo sufficient verification and confirmation processes and to review whether the report has public interest value before broadcasting." He further mentioned, "The public deserves a clear explanation on why such unethical media coverage occurred and whether the current stance is the same as it was then."

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