Baek Kwang-hyun, a former member of the Democratic Party of Korea, raised suspicions on the 7th that Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, had foreknowledge of the prosecution's search of Seongnam City Hall while serving as mayor and hid evidence.
Baek said at a National Assembly press conference that "Lee Jae-myung and his party have repeatedly engaged in illegal activities in a continuous and planned manner." He then revealed a PC hard drive used by an aide, identified as A, who closely assisted Lee during his time as mayor of Seongnam.
Baek referred to the PC hard drive, saying, "A knew that the prosecution would conduct a search at Seongnam City Hall, so he had left it with an acquaintance and it has not been retrieved until now." He also noted, "The prosecution's search was carried out immediately after the hard drive was hidden." This raises claims of collusion between the investigative agency and Lee.
During the conference, Baek played a recording of a phone call between Kim Hyun-ji, an aide identified as a key member of the so-called "Lee Jae-myung Seongnam Line," and Bae So-hyun, a former secretary. Baek stated that the contents of the recording could be interpreted as Lee destroying hard drives while he was governor of Gyeonggi Province.
He said, "At that time, the attention of the Korean public was entirely focused on the Daejang-dong incident," adding that "Lee, while serving as governor of Gyeonggi Province, carelessly damaged state property and destroyed materials that would serve as evidence in important cases."
Baek continued, "As soon as I obtained the recording file, I reported Lee and the aides involved with the recording file to the prosecution, which directed the Southern Gyeonggi Police Agency to conduct supplementary investigations. However, the police have yet to come to a conclusion on the case, even after more than two years," he said. He noted that the Southern Gyeonggi Police Agency explained that it had been conducting the investigation after receiving the case transferred from the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office and that there had been no directive for supplementary investigations from the prosecution, and also that Baek had been informed of the decision not to prosecute.
Lee served as mayor of Seongnam from July 2010 to March 2018. During his tenure, the Suwon District Prosecutor's Office Seongnam Branch conducted searches of Seongnam City Hall on March 24, 2017, and the Suwon District Prosecutor's Special Investigation Division conducted a search in June 2016.
Baek is the operator of the current affairs YouTube channel "Baek Briefing." He released a file containing Lee's abusive language in July 2021. In April of the following year, he raised allegations of "illegal use of corporate cards" by Lee's spouse, Kim Hye-kyung, and featured a whistleblower on YouTube. In 2023, he filed a request for an injunction to suspend Lee's duties as party leader. In response, the Democratic Party expelled Baek in November of the same year, claiming that he spread false information and damaged the party's dignity.