Chief Aide Kim Hyun-ji attends the presidential chief secretary meeting held at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, on the 13th. Photo by the presidential office photojournalists
, ‘ It has been revealed that Kim Hyun-ji, the chief aide in the presidential office, replaced her mobile phone twice on the 13th, the start of this year’s government audit. ‘,
, ” According to data submitted by Representative Park Jeong-hoon of the People Power Party from KT on the 20th, Chief Aide Kim replaced her existing phone, an ‘iPhone 14 Pro’, with the latest model ‘iPhone 17’ at 10:36 a.m. on the 13th. Nine minutes later, she switched back to the previously used ‘iPhone 14 Pro’. “,
, ‘ Representative Park commented, “This is not something one would normally comprehend,” speculating that “it might involve creating another number and swapping SIM cards.” ‘,
, ” Representative Park also revealed that Chief Aide Kim had changed her phone five times since October 10, 2021, when President Lee was elected as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate. According to Park, the timings for Kim’s phone replacements were around December 27, 2021, roughly six days after Kim Moon-gi, a key figure in the Daejang-dong development, was found dead, and on September 9, 2023, when President Lee attended the Suwon Prosecutor’s Office as a suspect in the ‘Ssangbangwool illegal remittance to North Korea’ case. “,
, ‘ Representative Park urged, “Since Chief Aide Kim has been acting as the control tower for the president’s judicial risks, there is sufficient ground to consider this as an act of evidence destruction,” urging Kim to appear at the government audit and clarify the reasons for her phone replacements and whether there were intentions to destroy evidence. ‘,
, ‘ After the emergency press conference at the National Assembly, Representative Park said when talking with reporters about Kim’s attendance at the audit, “She should attend as requested by all the standing committees, but even just appearing before the Operating Committee would provide a critical opportunity to clear suspicions.” ‘,
, ‘ On the same day, the People Power Party also issued a statement in the name of Senior Deputy Spokesperson Choi Su-jin, calling, “The Democratic Party, which previously proposed the ‘Compulsory Submission of Communication Records Act’, should disclose Chief Aide Kim’s call records.” ‘,
, ” The ‘Compulsory Submission of Communication Records Act’, mentioned by the People Power Party, refers to the ‘Telecommunications Privacy Protection Act amendment’ proposed by Democratic Party’s Rep. Chu Mi-ae in October last year, which allows the national assembly to request user information and call records from telecom companies if passed. “,
, ‘ Deputy Spokesperson Choi commented in the statement, “Inspecting citizens’ communication records without a court warrant directly infringes on the freedom of communication confidentiality guaranteed by Article 18 of the Constitution, and back then, the People Power Party strongly criticized it as an unprecedented ‘big brother law’ that could not be found anywhere in the world. Wouldn’t it be easy for the Democratic Party, with such a dangerous mindset, to disclose Chief Aide Kim’s call records just like that?” she posed the question. ‘,
, ‘ Deputy Spokesperson Choi criticized, mentioning the repeated phone changes by Chief Aide Kim, saying, “It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Kim has consistently led in destroying evidence whenever there were controversies,” questioning “What was she afraid of?” ‘,
, ‘ Lastly, Deputy Spokesperson Choi argued, “Although Chu’s bill intends to broaden the surveillance network on citizens on the opposing side, while sealing the communication records within the Democratic Party’s power, if there is any intention to avoid such misunderstandings, opening Chief Aide Kim’s communication records to the public would transparently resolve the issue,” she claimed. ‘,
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