Fabrication case jolts People's Party
Lee Yu-mi, center, a People’s Party member, is taken to a detention center after being questioned at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, Tuesday. She reportedly provided manipulated information to the party for a smear campaign against President Moon Jae-in, then the Democratic Party of Korea candidate, during the presidential election./ Yonhap
By Kim Hyo-jin
The third-largest People’s Party is being thrown into turmoil following revelations that the information it used for a massive smear campaign against President Moon Jae-in during the presidential race was fabricated by a party member.
The prosecution detained the party member, Lee Yu-mi, who was reportedly a former student of Ahn Cheol-soo, the party’s former presidential candidate, when Ahn lectured at KAIST.
The focus of the investigation is on whether Ahn and then party leader Park Jie-won were involved in the fabrication, and if not, whether they were aware that the information was wrong when they used it to attack Moon.
The party denied its involvement, saying it was also duped by Lee.
During the campaign, Ahn and the party raised an allegation that Moon’s son, Joon-yong, unfairly landed a full-time job at the state-run Korea Employment Information Service in 2006 when Moon was serving as a secretary for then President Roh Moo-hyun. At the time, the party said it had clear evidence supporting the allegation.
The allegation was based on a voice-altered audio recording of a man who claimed to be Joon-yong’s “schoolmate” at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, and screenshots of Kakao Talk messages between him and Lee Yu-mi.
Following an internal investigation, however, the party said the voice was actually provided by Lee’s brother, and the messages were created by Lee herself using different smartphones.
On Monday, the party’s interim leader Park Joo-sun offered a public apology for the fabrication.
The prosecution has been investigating the case based on a complaint from the Democratic Party of Korea. Lee was detained early Tuesday.
In a message sent to other party members before this, Lee claimed she was “ordered” to create the false information, saying she felt victimized.
“I’m facing an investigation because of the fake documents I made following an order by a committee head. The party will soon release a statement and expel us from the party. I realized that the party will not protect me… There’s no one by my side,” she wrote.
The committee head refers to Lee Jun-suh, then a Supreme Council member.
The claim goes against the explanation from Park who said in the press conference that Lee Yu-mi voluntarily delivered the documents to Lee Jun-suh and he decided to make them public, implying that the blame should be placed on the lack of a verification process.
The controversy worsened as Lee Yu-mi apparently has a wide network within the party and a deep knowledge of party affairs.
She ran in the April 13 general election as a candidate in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, the party’s stronghold. Lee also joined Ahn’s campaign in the 2012 presidential election.
Floor leader Kim Dong-cheol urged the prosecution to seek the maximum penalty for Lee, calling the scandal a crime that “undermined the national foundation.”
He also suggested that a special investigation be launched to look deeper into suspicions surrounding Moon Joon-yong’s employment.
Park Jie-won echoed a similar view in a radio interview, saying, “Fabricated allegations are of course a problem, but allegations on Moon’s receiving favors have not been cleared up.”
Park denied he knew of the affair while leading the party and also defended Ahn, saying, “There’s a high chance Ahn had no idea either.”
Ahn, who has been away from central politics since the presidential election, is mulling over how to express his position on the scandal, party officials said.
Analysts say it could take toll on the party’s already-weakened status and the future of Ahn’s political career.
The People’s Party is suffering from low popularity in the Jeolla region, its home ground, as support for Moon and the ruling party has soared. The party has even failed to woo centrists due to its unclear party line and ideological position.