Wife risk emerges as double-edged sword for PPP presidential candidate

On Dec. 26, 2021, Kim Keon-hee speaks during a press conference at People Power Party's office in Seoul's Yeoido area to apologize for forged work experiences on past resumes. Korea Times file

By Ko Dong-hwan

• Published Jan 17, 2022 5:24 PM KST
• Updated Jan 18, 2022 9:04 AM KST

Parties lock horns over MBC's disclosure of Yoon Seok-yeol's wife's phone conversation

By Ko Dong-hwan

Recordings of private conversations between the wife of presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol and a YouTuber have emerged as a political football after the comments were disclosed on TV broadcaster MBC's investigative news show “Straight” on Sunday.

Kim Keon-hee, the wife of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) presidential candidate, talked to a reporter at a YouTube news outlet called The Voice of Seoul over the phone 52 times from July to December 2021, according to MBC. The total conversation time between Kim and the reporter, Lee Myung-soo, amounted to over seven hours. Following a ruling by the Seoul Western District Court on Jan. 14 that overruled Kim's injunction request not to air the conversation records, the broadcaster disclosed most of the audio recordings except parts linked to subjects currently under investigation.

The PPP, following the controversial TV program, condemned MBC for airing the “deeply private conversations that were illegally recorded” by treating them as publicly beneficial and thus breaking political neutrality. Yoon's camp leader Rep. Kwon Young-se said MBC and reporter Lee pulled off “political sabotage” and demanded the broadcaster square the situation by “equally airing segments about the familial feuds involving Lee Jae-myung (presidential candidate of the ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK)) and his wife.” He also said reporter Lee's acquisition of the recordings and delivery of them to MBC was “ethically evil.”

Previous to Straight's airing, The Voice of Seoul announced it would not break the news about Kim's phone conversations, but instead delivered the contents to MBC because it believed the content would carry more credibility if it were reported by a major broadcaster.

PPP chairman Lee Jun-seok defended Kim on Facebook on Monday, saying there is nothing wrong with her having “personal views on political or social issues, especially when she didn't know her conversations on the phone was being recorded.” He added that “it is a family member's natural role to invite any potential supporter to the camp.”

Rep. Hong Joon-pyo said on his social webpage it was “shocking to hear talking about a world without #MeToo as being desolate," and added that he finally understands why he was “mauled so badly by far-right YouTubers during the party primary race.”

DPK spokesperson Kim Woo-young responded following Straight, saying Kim's efforts to buy reporter Lee's support for Yoon's camp is an infringement of the country's election laws that state candidates and their wives cannot give money to outsiders. Regarding Kim's remarks on #MeToo, he added, “If a presidential candidate and his wife share anti-social views that run counter to human rights, then it is a serious problem.”

He also criticized PPP chairman Lee for “not recognizing what sticks out from the controversial program.”

“How can a party that can't even rationally evaluate a potential first lady govern the citizens and the country's state affairs?” said the spokesperson.

The two parties exchanged barbs a day after MBC broadcasted Kim's phone conversations.

According to the audio recording, Kim requested Lee to help Yoon's election camp last July. When Lee asked Kim what he can do for her, she said he can “do whatever I tell you to do, like getting information, which you're good at.”

She told him she will pay him if he joins Yoon's camp, with the amount “depending on how well you do.” She suggested 100 million won ($83,000). “You will be the biggest beneficiary if Yoon wins the election,” Kim told Lee. “You think Lee Jae-myung will do anything for you if he gets elected? I do not think so.”

Last September, she asked Lee to sabotage Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, Yoon's former party primary rival, by asking him “some acerbic questions” at a casual forum at Seoul National University where Hong was scheduled to attend as a key speaker. “Challenging him will likely attract more super chats (on YouTube),” Kim said, referring to a feature on the video platform where users can make donations to a live streamer.

Kim also shared with Lee her thoughts on the #MeToo scandals in 2018, blaming the Moon Jae-in administration for “needlessly stoking the issue and trying to seek out the sexual aggressors, which makes people's lives so desolate.” She said she and Yoon felt “very sorry” for the disgraced former South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung, who was jailed for raping his subordinate.

She added the series of sex scandals occurred because the victims were not paid to keep quiet.

“Conservatives make sure they pay. They don't use people free of charge,” said Kim. “That's why you don't see many #MeToo cases here (inside the PPP). #MeToo happened because they didn't pay (the victims).”

She added liberal parties don't make payoffs like the conservatives do, and advised Lee not to follow in the former's footsteps because the consequences will “come back to haunt you when God knows how perfect your life seems to have become.”

Kim later made an apologetic statement in a written response to Straight that had asked her for her comments prior to airing the controversial episode. While she denied she ever meddled in her husband's political affairs, she said her remarks on #MeToo and how liberal politicians handled the issue were “inappropriate.”

But her derisive remarks on conservative politicians went on further in the conversations. She said Yoon has grown influential (from former prosecutor general to presidential candidate) “thanks to the Moon administration, not the conservatives.” She said some “idiots” believe the former president Park Geun-hye's impeachment in 2017 was driven by liberals and Moon Jae-in, when in fact it was “internally executed within the conservative party (Saenuri Party, which Park had represented).”

She also denied the rumor that she was once a room salon hostess named Julie ― entertaining customers in bars with private rooms, sometimes providing prostitution services which is illegal in Korea. “I don't even like going to nightclubs,” Kim told Lee. “I am a very religious person.”

She added she enjoys talking to “fortune-tellers” and likes to converse with them about the meaning of life. It further confirmed an allegation Yoon and Kim repeatedly consulted with certain fortune-tellers during the presidential campaign, raising criticism from outside the party for relying on “shamanism” when making political decisions.

Choo Mi-ae, the former Minister of Justice, said Straight has revealed how a conservative party is “once again being manipulated by a woman and controlled under modern shamanism politicking,” referring to the former Park Geun-hye administration in which Park's long-time friend Choi Soon-sil influenced political decisions behind curtains.

Local pollster Realmeter on Monday showed Yoon was leading DPK's Lee with 40.6 percent public support against Lee's 36.7 percent. The survey conducted on 3,031 adults from Jan. 9 to 14 showed Yoon gained 6.5 percentage points from the previous week, while Lee lost 3.4 points. Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, recorded 12.9 percent public support, up 1.8 percentage points from last week, edging closer to Lee and Yoon.

The survey was conducted prior to MBC's airing of Straight.