The Democratic Party of Korea plans to file a complaint against Hong Joon-pyo, a candidate in the People Power Party's presidential primary, for the allegation of 'Myung Tae-kyun poll expense coverage' on the 24th. Hong's camp stated, "This is false propaganda and an attempt to undermine the fairness of the presidential election," and indicated they would file a counter-complaint.
The Myung Tae-kyun Investigation Team issued a statement on the same day, saying, "We will report former Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, former Gyeongnam Development Corporation President Park Jae-ki, and former Daegu City official Choi Yong-hwi to the Seoul Metropolitan Police. According to the whistleblower, Kang Hye-kyung, the poll expenses related to former Mayor Hong in the 21st National Assembly election were covered by former President Park, amounting to 20 million won, including deposits under fictitious names."
The investigation team reported that Kang, a key informant related to Myung, compiled a document titled 'Hong Joon-pyo Poll Expense and Payment Status', which indicated ▲ that cash was collected for a request made in 2020, and ▲ that the invoice from the Future Korea Research Institute included a charge of over 56 million won for a poll conducted in Daegu Suseong in early March and April of 2020.
Separately, the investigation team noted that former Mayor Hong is also under suspicion of illegally obtaining and leaking the membership list of party members in the Daegu area, and they plan to file a complaint for violations of the Personal Information Protection Act and obstruction of duty.
In response, Nam Yoon-jung, head of the Clean Election Headquarters from Hong Joon-pyo's camp, stated, "The Democratic Party, which has been engaging in false propaganda related to Myung Tae-kyun for over five months, is now committing perjury and running rampant," and announced they would immediately file complaints for violations of the Public Official Election Act (dissemination of false facts), defamation through the disclosure of false facts, and perjury.
Nam added, "Myung Tae-kyun himself has recently denied any connection with candidate Hong Joon-pyo after being released on bail," and stated, "We will respond strictly to the Democratic Party's rampage attempting to undermine the fairness of the presidential election through false propaganda."