Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate from the Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 6th that Yook Young-soo, the spouse of former President Park Chung-hee, was politically assassinated in the past, noting, "Unfortunately, such attempts still exist today." This comment referred to reports of conspiracy to physically attack him, as well as the Supreme Court's "guilty principle reversal."

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate, visits the public market in Okcheon-gun, Chungbuk, on the afternoon of the 6th, the second day of his listening tour. /Courtesy of News1

The candidate visited a traditional market in Okcheon County, Chungcheongbuk-do, the hometown of Mrs. Yook that afternoon, saying, "I don't know the exact reason, but it seems that she (Yook Young-soo) passed away due to the inter-Korean issues or political conflict, or political reasons."

He continued, "Looking back at my childhood, she seemed to be a person with a very good impression, but she was murdered by Moon Se-gwang," adding, "Historically in Korea, there have been many instances where someone was killed for political reasons." He remarked, "I hope we can move away from a world where people are killed, hated, loathed, and confronted for political reasons."

These remarks appear to be mindful of the recent reports regarding assassination conspiracies targeting the candidate. Earlier, his camp said on Facebook on the 3rd that "It is difficult for the candidate to have direct contact with people from now on," stating they had received multiple reports of assassination conspiracies. Regarding the Supreme Court's reversal on the 1st of the case involving his alleged violation of the Public Official Election Act, they referred to it as "judicial murder."

Before visiting Okcheon, that morning he had also visited a traditional market in Jeungpyeong County, Chungcheongbuk-do, where he stated, "(Independence activist) Cho Bong-am was also a victim of judicial murder, and former President Kim Dae-jung was sentenced to death for conspiracy to insurrection without having done anything." He added, "Someone grabbed me and said, 'Please don't die.' I survived by a 1 millimeter difference when I was attacked, and legally, isn't it possible to kill me if someone really wanted to?"