Former PPP leader: President Yoon weighed in on nominations, Myung mistaken

[Anchor]

In relation to the allegations of interference in candidate nominations, Lee Jun-seok, a member of the Reform Party, has expressed his position.

He claimed that during his time as leader of the People Power Party, then-President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol had made comments regarding the nominations for the district mayor elections.

However, he stated that he considered it to be a normal level of consultation.

Regarding Myung Tae-kyun, he said Myung misunderstood, believing that former lawmaker Kim Young-sun would be nominated because he himself had spoken to the president.

Kim Jin-ho reports.

[Report]

Lee Jun-seok, a member of the Reform Party and former leader of the People Power Party, has made new claims that Yoon Suk Yeol, who was then the elected president in 2022, mentioned nominations for district mayor or city mayor elections.

[Lee Jun-seok/Reform Party member: "There were times when he pleaded with the president to have me do a specific mayor nomination, and also mentioned that since the current candidates for a certain district in Seoul lack competitiveness, wouldn’t it be better to give it to someone else…."]

The district mayor mentioned by Lee is reported to be former Gangseo District Mayor Kim Tae-woo.

However, Lee stated that he considered the president's comments regarding nominations to be at a normal level of consultation.

Lee also restated his position regarding the allegations of interference in the nomination related to Myung Tae-kyun.

Myung's lawyer claims that the voice recording of then-President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol, which was released by the Democratic Party, was triggered by a text message sent by then-PPP-leader Lee Jun-seok early on the day of the recording.

That is, Lee sent a message to Myung stating, "Yoon said that Kim Young-sun should compete in the primary," which led Myung to contact President Yoon for confirmation.

In response, Lee stated that he sent the message because he thought Myung was misunderstanding the nomination situation.

[Lee Jun-seok/Reform Party member: "It seems that Myung Tae-kyun thought he was receiving the nomination because he spoke to the president, but I don’t think that’s the case… If such discussions had taken place, I would have heard about it from the nomination committee, but there was no such atmosphere…."]

Yoon Sang-hyun, a member of the People Power Party who was the head of the nomination management committee during the 2022 by-election, repeatedly denied allegations of interference in nominations, stating that there had never been a primary to determine the candidate for the Changwon Uichang district.

KBS News, Kim Jin-ho.