People’s Party leaders cleared in fake scam

The prosecution indicted two former senior members of the opposition People’s Party, Monday, for using fabricated “evidence” in a smear campaign against then presidential candidate Moon Jae-in in the lead up to the May 9 election.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office cleared party leaders — former presidential candidate Ahn Cheolsoo and former floor leader Park Jie-won — of any involvement. It also did not indict former presidential election campaign chief Rep. Lee Yong-ju.

This helped the party escape a grave crisis with its approval rating having plummeted to a mere 4 percent. The prosecution questioned all three but could not find evidence proving their involvement in the scandal.

The prosecution indicted former lawmakers Kim Seong-ho and Kim In-won for failing to establish the veracity of the allegation — concocted by a party member and her brother — made against Moon before holding a press conference to go public with it. They were charged with violating the Election Law which bans disseminating false information.

The prosecution said the two held press conferences on May 5 and 7, to deliver the allegation based on fabricated material, made by Lee Yu-mi and her brother, which was given to them by former senior party official Lee Jun-suh.

Lee Jun-suh has already been indicted for willfully neglecting his duty to verify the authenticity of the voice recording and messages on a Kakao Talk chatroom produced by the Lee siblings In the material the two fabricated evidence that the president’s son Joon-yong used his father’s influence to land a job at a government agency. They were also indicted. The recording and messages were made to look like communications between Joon-yong and a schoolmate at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, in which the son admits he landed the job due to his father’s influence.

Earlier, the prosecution said Lee Jun-suh heard from Lee Yu-mi on 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 Lee Yong-ju May 4 without checking the name and address of whom he claimed was Moon Joon-yong’s school friend. The party convened a meeting later in the day to discuss whether it should use the recording.

During the meeting, key campaign officials, including Kim Seong-ho and Kim In-won, 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.