Lee Jun-seok claims Yoon intervened in Pohang and Gangseo-gu nominations, while Lee Cheol-kyu calls it completely unfounded

[Anchor]

Reporm Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok claimed today (Nov. 15) that d uring his time as the leader of the People Power Party, then-President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol strongly demanded the nomination of a specific individual.

Lawmaker Lee stated that this occurred in at least three local elections.

Kim Jin-ho reports.

[Report]

Lawmaker Lee Jun-seok held a press conference today, seemingly determined to express his claims regarding the situation in 2022.

First, he mentioned that during the nomination for the Pohang mayor, when the People Power Party's Gyeongbuk Provincial Party attempted to exclude candidate Lee Kang-deok based on public opinion polls, he, as the party leader, directed a primary, which led to issues.

Lawmaker Lee claimed that at that time, President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol expressed anger towards him, saying, "You can't do nominations like this."

He also mentioned that during this process, he heard that Lee's competitor, candidate Moon, was confident about his nomination because he was close to First Lady-to-be Kim Keon-hee, and thus he met with Mrs. Kim.

[Lee Jun-seok/Reform Party lawmaker: "Whether it's true or not, I thought I should talk to the person mentioned and confirm, so I urgently asked, 'Where is Mrs. Kim right now?'..."]

Lawmaker Lee did not disclose the details of his conversation with Mrs. Kim.

He asserted that then-President-elect Yoon also demanded the nomination of specific individuals for the Seoul Gangseo District Mayor election and others.

[Lee Jun-seok/Reform Party lawmaker: "'We shouldn't do anything good for the Democratic Party,' and he said something like, 'Shouldn't we nominate Kim Tae-woo?']

A day earlier, the lawmaker had mentioned that the President-elect had given his opinion, but today he brought up the term 'interference in nominations.'

Lawmaker Lee was the final decision-maker for nominations in the People Power Party, as he was the party leader and had the authority to stamp the nomination documents.

[Lee Jun-seok/Reform Party lawmaker: "Since there were things that were corrected, I said that it was something that could happen. The difference between 'opinion' and 'interference' is where the threshold lies."]

In response, People Power Party lawmaker Lee Cheol-kyu, who is aligned with the pro-Yoon faction, recalled the deteriorated relationship between President-elect Yoon and Lee, arguing that it was not a situation where he could ask for nominations.

[Lee Cheol-kyu/People Power Party lawmaker/MBC Radio 'Kim Jong-bae's Focused Attention': "If you think back to whether it was a situation where such opinions could be conveyed, the answer becomes clear. It was not a situation where such requests or conversations could take place, right?"]

However, Reform Party lawmaker Lee did not back down from his assertion that President Yoon's interference in nominations is not limited to the regions mentioned this time.

KBS News, Kim Jin-ho.