Presidential candidate Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party said on the 24th, "Lee Jae-myung, who is an election fraud theorist, must apologize to the public immediately." He claimed that while Lee Jae-myung, the candidate for the Democratic Party of Korea, argued that there was government-level interference during the vote counting process of the 18th presidential election during his term as mayor of Seongnam, he must make a public apology after giving false explanations in a recent TV debate.
That candidate spoke to reporters after campaigning at Suwon Station in the Paldal District of Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, that afternoon. He noted, "Even former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who believed in conspiracy theories, failed to lead the country properly due to a lack of accurate judgment," and added, "Despite claiming election fraud, Lee Jae-myung attempted to evade the crisis with lies."
Earlier, candidate Lee Jae-myung stated on Facebook on Jan. 7, 2017, during his time as mayor of Seongnam, "The last (18th) presidential election was more fraudulent than the fraudulent election of March 15. There was massive interference in the election by state agencies and vote counting fraud," and emphasized that "vote counting fraud must be fundamentally blocked through multiple counts of ballots."
However, during the second TV debate with presidential candidates the day before, candidate Lee Jae-myung refuted Lee Jun-seok's question about his position, saying, "Because the National Intelligence Service manipulated public opinion through comment manipulation, I mentioned it in that context as an election fraud" and added, "From the perspective of 'vote manipulation,' it is not the election fraud that Yoon Suk-yeol or Kim Moon-soo is concerned about."
Lee Jun-seok also reiterated his refusal to unify with the People Power Party. He stated, "I have repeatedly said I will not participate," and urged, "I ask the wise citizens to reject the forces of internal strife and chaos." He also said, "In the next debate, I will comprehensively address the issues with Lee Jae-myung," and requested, "This week, please raise the support rate in the polls to over 15%, close to 20%."