Ten days before the June 3 presidential election, the 'reporting war' between the two major parties is intensifying. As past remarks are clarified in TV debates, controversies over lies arise, and there are issues surrounding the leak of personal information caused by appointments made without consent to other party officials. However, neither party has been able to release their 'presidential election pledge books,' which should have been verified by voters.
On the 24th, the Democratic Party of Korea reported Kim Moon-soo, the People Power Party candidate, for spreading false information under the Public Official Election Act, claiming he made a false statement about 'tears at the imprisonment of Jeon Gwang-hoon.'
Earlier, Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party candidate, said in the second round of the presidential candidate TV debate the previous day, 'I feel regret that Jeon Gwang-hoon still seems to maintain a relationship with such (far-right forces) that he cried when the pastor went to prison.' He then asked whether there was no intention to sever relations with Pastor Jeon and other far-right forces.
In contrast, Candidate Kim rebutted, saying, 'You should not talk about false information. If I get caught for spreading false information again, that would be very repetitive and a repeat offense.' In response, the Democratic Party cited evidence of Kim's emotional remarks regarding the pastor's imprisonment, made during his appearance on the YouTube channel Kim Moon-soo TV in 2019 and 2020.
Separately, the Democratic Party also reported Candidate Kim for violating the Personal Information Protection Act, as the People Power Party recently issued appointment letters via text message to Democratic Party representatives Lee Gi-hun and Park Sang-hyuk, among others.
The Democratic Party stated, 'Candidate Kim Moon-soo has committed several illegal acts by issuing and distributing appointment letters in his name to Democratic Party members Lee Gi-hun and Park Sang-hyuk, and thousands of educators without consent.'
In response, the People Power Party filed a report as well. On the same day, they criminally reported Candidate Lee for making false statements related to his claims of 'fraud in the 18th presidential election.'
Candidate Lee clarified his past social media post, which claimed that 'the 18th presidential election, in which former President Park Geun-hye was elected, was fraudulent,' stating in the TV debate the previous day, 'I referred to it as fraudulent in terms of how the National Intelligence Service manipulated public opinion through comment manipulation. The claims made by the Election Commission or those about ballot manipulation are not the kind of fraud that Kim Moon-soo or Yoon Suk-yeol are interested in.'
However, both the Reform Party and the People Power Party cited a post made by Candidate Lee during his tenure as Seongnam mayor as evidence. At that time, he wrote on Facebook, '(The 18th presidential election) is a fraud that surpasses the 3.15 fraudulent election,' and 'evidence justifying suspicions of electronic counting fraud is emerging,' adding, 'I support many who are fighting for the manual counting of ballots.'
As of today, the Democratic Party and the People Power Party have not released their presidential candidate pledge books. The reason is that the election is being held following the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, resulting in insufficient preparation time. Overseas voters are in a situation where they voted without being able to read the pledge books, leading to criticism that only a 'hair-splitting' reporting war is being waged. In the case of the 19th presidential election held following the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye, then-candidate Moon Jae-in released his pledge book 11 days before voting, while Hong Joon-pyo, the then-candidate of the Liberty Korea Party, released his 22 days before.