Presidential Office: "President and Spouse Unrelated to Im Seong-geun's Lobbying for Pardon... Spreading False Information"

"Regret Over Reckless Suspicion Reports, Strong Response"

President Yoon Suk-yeol and First Lady Kim Keon-hee are boarding Air Force One, their official aircraft, at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, USA, on the 9th (local time) before departing for Washington. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The Presidential Office stated that the allegation that Mr. Lee, a person involved in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case, lobbied President Yoon Suk-yeol to save former Marine Corps 1st Division Commander Lim Seong-geun is false, emphasizing that "the President and the First Lady are not involved at all" and that they will strongly respond to the spread of false information.

On the afternoon of the same day, the Presidential Office explained to the press, "Regarding some reports alleging that Mr. Lee, involved in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case, said 'I will talk to the VIP' and engaged in lobbying to save former Marine Corps 1st Division Commander Lim Seong-geun, neither the Presidential Office nor the President and the First Lady are involved at all."

They added, "The Presidential Office deeply regrets the baseless claims and reckless suspicion reports, and plans to strongly respond to the dissemination of false information."

Earlier, some media outlets reported that Mr. Lee, who was convicted in the first trial for his involvement in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case, was recorded in a phone call saying he helped save former Division Commander Lim in August last year. Mr. Lee is known to have a close relationship with First Lady Kim Keon-hee.

The phone call was reportedly submitted by lawyer A, the other party in the call, during an investigation by the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Division (PCC).

In the call, when lawyer A first said, "The Marine Corps division commander is in trouble," Mr. Lee responded, "Lim Seong-geun? That's right. B called saying the division commander was going to resign. So I said, 'Absolutely do not resign, I will talk to the VIP.'"

The person referred to as B by Mr. Lee is presumed to be a former member of the Blue House Security Office. Mr. Lee, lawyer A, and B all recently appeared in suspicions related to a golf gathering.

Also, when lawyer A asked, "Does this mean that those above were trying to protect (former Division Commander Lim)?" Mr. Lee responded affirmatively, saying, "That's right."

Typically, "VIP" refers to the President. Because of this, based solely on the phone call, one might suspect that Mr. Lee lobbied President Yoon or First Lady Kim to save former Division Commander Lim, who was involved in the death of Chae Sang-byeong.

However, it is reported that Mr. Lee explained that the "VIP" mentioned in the recording does not refer to President Yoon or First Lady Kim, but rather to Marine Corps Commander Kim Gye-hwan, and that he never engaged in any activities to save former Division Commander Lim.

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