More evidence corners Gyeonggi governor, wife in Twitter account scandal

By Kim Hyun-bin

Police have found more evidence showing the controversial Twitter account ID used in illegal campaigning for Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung belonged to his wife, Kim Hye-gyeong, despite their strong denials.

Kim Hye-gyeong, the wife of Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung

According to police, Tuesday, the Twitter account “@08_hkkim” with the ID “Hyegyeonggung Ms. Kim,” which spread false information about Lee's opponents and rivals, is linked to the gmail ID “khk631000.”

Officers then searched to find if the khk631000 ID was used on other domestic websites, and found it on one of the nation's portals, Daum. The Daum account was deactivated in April shortly after police started their investigation into the allegations of illegal campaigning ahead of the June local elections.

The personal information of the Daum user was not retrieved as the account had been deactivated, but police obtained the last login information, which was traced back to the governor's house.

With this evidence, the police concluded earlier this week, that Kim was the user of the controversial Twitter account, and asked the prosecution to indict her.

Kim's lawyer claimed the gmail ID was made by one of Lee's secretaries when he was Seongnam mayor, so his secretaries and aides could share his schedule as well as the ID.

“The secretary who made the account was questioned by officers and stated there was a third party who was suspected of having stolen the ID to post problematic posts on the account, but they disregarded such testimony that exonerates Kim,” the lawyer said.

In December 2016, when Lee was competing against Moon Jae-in the Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) primary for the presidential election, Hyegyeonggung Ms. Kim falsely claimed that Moon's son received special treatment when landing a public agency job in 2006 thanks to his father who was then a senior presidential secretary.

In April when Lee was competing against Rep. Jeon Hae-cheol of the DPK in the party's primary for the governorship race, the Twitter ID again claimed Jeon cooperated with the opposition party to attack Lee.