Investigation zeroes in on People's Party leadership
Lee Jun-suh
By Lee Kyung-min
A Seoul district court issued an arrest warrant for Lee Jun-suh, a former senior official of the opposition People’s Party, Tuesday, allowing the prosecution leverage to investigate the leadership of the party over a smear campaign against President Moon Jae-in.
In what could be a party-dissolving allegation, the prosecution is zeroing in on who among the party’s top officials were aware of the fabricated material used in the campaign and whether they condoned it to help its former presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo.
The Seoul Southern District Court issued the warrant for Lee who is suspected of knowing that the voice recording released by the party only four days ahead of the May 9 presidential election was fabricated by party member Lee Yu-mi and her brother.
In the recording, made to look like a communication between President Moon’s son Moon Joon-yong and a schoolmate at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, the son acknowledges using his father’s influence to land a job at a public agency.
The prosecution said Lee Jun-suh was definitively aware about the fabrication of the recording, reversing an earlier conclusion he might have known but deliberately failed to verify its authenticity.
The prosecution said Lee Jun-suh heard from Lee Yu-mi, April 27, that she had a source at the U.S. design school that could prove the allegation. Lee Jun-suh then promised her the party’s Youth Committee chief position in exchange for producing a “written account” in the form of a conversation.
After the meeting, Lee Jun-suh called a reporter about what he claimed was “an explosive scoop,” pushing to run the story even before Lee Yu-mi handed any material over to him. Lee Yu-mi created a Kakao Talk chatroom April 30 to make it look like a conversation between Moon Joon-yong and the schoolmate using three separate smartphones.
However, after the reporter told Lee Jun-suh a voice recording was required in order for the story to air, he then told this to Lee Yu-mi, who made a recording May 2 in which her brother disguised himself as the schoolmate.
Lee Jun-suh handed this over to the party, without checking the name and address of whom he claimed was Moon Joon-yong’s school friend, the prosecution added.
The material Lee Yu-mi delivered after such a specific request by Lee Jun-suh, the prosecution said, proves he was demanding results and “evidence” without paying any attention to their authenticity, much less how she produced them.
The prosecution said the scheme continued when the party convened a meeting May 4 to discuss whether it should use the recording. Key campaign officials requested Lee Jun-suh to disclose the identities of the figures in the recording. But he refused, citing the need to protect his source, adding he would take full responsibility.
The prosecution questioned both Lee Jun-suh and Lee Yu-mi again later in the day over the allegation focusing on identifying the involvement of any “higher figures.”