On the 12th, the police stated that there have been no reports received or verified regarding the 'gun smuggling allegations' aimed at presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, as claimed by the Democratic Party of Korea.
A Korean National Police Agency official noted during a regular press briefing on the 12th in response to the question, 'Has the Democratic Party just raised issues without filing a report?' that 'nothing specific has been reported to the police' and added, 'nothing has been confirmed yet.'
Regarding the question of whether the claims made by the Democratic Party about gun smuggling are not just the spread of false information, this official replied, 'I think we need to review the legal aspects related to that part.'
Previously, the Democratic Party requested the police for personal protection for candidate Lee, who was then the party leader, on the 12th of March. Spokesperson Hwang Jung-a noted in a briefing, 'We are receiving many reports through lawmakers, including claims that there are plans to assassinate by smuggling Russian pistols, among various messages we have received.'
On the 11th, Choi Seung-rae, the Director General of the Democratic Party's Central Election Countermeasure Committee, met with reporters and stated, 'In a situation where terror threats against candidate Lee are continuously increasing, we have created a counter-terrorism response team led by Kim Min-seok, the permanent head of the election committee.'
He specifically mentioned regarding the 'terror threat,' 'If I just refer to the messages I've received, there are credible reports that '(sniper) Russian rifles have been brought in.' He continued, 'Furthermore, there are many reports saying, 'specific internal rebellion forces that were active during the illegal emergency martial law on Dec. 3 are currently unaccounted for,' and 'Personally, I have heard various things through contacts with those individuals,' which is being communicated to many people simultaneously.'
The police are investigating seven threatening posts against candidate Lee online, having sent one case to the prosecution while six others are still under investigation.
Additionally, in relation to the June 3 presidential election, the police are investigating a total of 83 election crimes involving 162 individuals. They have received complaints regarding the five major election crimes, including bribery, spreading false information, involvement of public officials in elections, election violence, and mobilizing illegal organizations, and are investigating 129 individuals. By type of crime, the investigations include ▲spreading false information (104 individuals) ▲involvement of public officials in elections (15 individuals) ▲election violence (7 individuals) ▲bribery (3 individuals) and concerning election-related deepfake videos, there are eight cases under investigation involving 18 individuals.