Kim Jae-sup appears as suspect over charges of spreading false information

Raised allegations about Jeong Won-o's 'Cancun business trip' during June 3 local elections

Pushes back before reporters, calling probe politically motivated

People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jae-sup speaks to reporters as he arrives at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Metropolitan Investigation Unit's public crime investigation unit in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday — the first day of the national audit — to be questioned as a suspect over allegations that he spread false claims about Jeong Won-o, a former Seoul mayoral candidate, regarding a business trip to Cancun, Mexico, during Jeong's tenure as Seongdong-gu district chief. [Yonhap]
People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jae-sup speaks to reporters as he arrives at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Metropolitan Investigation Unit's public crime investigation unit in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday — the first day of the national audit — to be questioned as a suspect over allegations that he spread false claims about Jeong Won-o, a former Seoul mayoral candidate, regarding a business trip to Cancun, Mexico, during Jeong's tenure as Seongdong-gu district chief. [Yonhap]

People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jae-sup appeared before police as a suspect Tuesday over complaints filed against him for raising a series of allegations during the June 3 local elections targeting Jeong Won-o, then the Democratic Party of Korea's Seoul mayoral candidate and former Seongdong-gu district chief.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Metropolitan Investigation Unit's public crime investigation unit is looking into charges against Kim including the spreading of false information and defamation of a candidate under the Public Official Election Act, as well as defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection. The statute of limitations for Public Official Election Act violations is six months from election day, with the deadline set to expire in early December. Police plan to verify the factual basis of the allegations Kim raised during the campaign and the grounds for his statements.

Arriving at the investigation unit in Mapo-gu, Kim pushed back sharply, saying the probe was "the first investigation targeting an opposition politician since the prosecution was dismantled — a clear act of suppression against the opposition."

He went further, saying President Lee Jae Myung "is pointing a razor-sharp blade at the throats of opposition lawmakers — only the scabbard has changed, and that blade is now the police," and asking whether "what President Lee Jae Myung and the Democratic Party wanted was a political police force that simply does their bidding."

Kim also reiterated his position that none of the allegations he raised against Jeong contained false information.

"There is not a single falsehood in anything I said," Kim told reporters. "Everything I said was based on specific, credible materials, so I will stand by every word."

The complaints against Kim stem from what became known as the "Cancun business trip" allegations he leveled at Jeong during the local election campaign.

At a National Assembly press conference on March 31, Kim claimed that Jeong had traveled to Mexico on an official trip in 2023 with a female civil servant surnamed Lim while serving as Seongdong-gu district chief, and that the official overseas travel approval document listed Lim's gender as male. Kim also raised allegations of preferential treatment in personnel matters, claiming Lim was rehired at a higher position in the Seongdong-gu district office after the trip.

Jeong's camp rebuffed the claims, saying the trip was an official schedule made at the formal invitation of Mexico's National Election Commission and other bodies, with a total of 11 people participating, and that Lim had accompanied the delegation as the official in charge of overseas affairs. They also said Cancun was a transit stop, not the destination, and that the male gender entry was a simple clerical error by the district office.

Kim addressed Jeong's explanation Tuesday, calling it "an absurd excuse" and saying he considered it to be the actual false statement.

Beyond the Cancun trip allegations, Kim also raised questions in May about an alleged assault incident involving Jeong in 1995.

The Democratic Party of Korea subsequently filed a police complaint against Kim on charges of spreading false information with the intent to cause Jeong's defeat. Lim, who is believed to have been on the Cancun trip, also filed a defamation complaint in April against Kim and other opposition figures who had raised related allegations.


kido@heraldcorp.com