On the 1st, Choo Kyung-ho, the floor leader of the People Power Party, addressed the content of a recorded call featuring President Yoon Suk-yeol’s voice, stating that “there is no legal issue, and the recording is too brief to fully understand the context.” He explained that since the call between President Yoon and Mr. Myung took place before Yoon’s inauguration (May 10, 2022), the status of ‘President-elect’ exempts him from any violations related to the Public Official Election Act.
During a briefing after the party’s supreme council meeting, Choo told reporters that he personally agreed with the preliminary legal review conducted by the Judiciary Committee members regarding the President’s phone call. The previous day, lawmakers from the People Power Party on the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee issued a statement to the press, citing Article 57 of the Public Official Election Act to assert that there was no election law violation.
Regarding calls from within the party for follow-up measures from the presidential office, Choo stated, “We are listening to various opinions, and I believe Yongsan (the location of the presidential office) is also paying close attention.” However, he criticized opposition parties like the Democratic Party for pursuing “term-reducing constitutional amendments” or impeachment, calling them parties that have sought to destabilize the Yoon administration immediately after it took office. “The people will sternly judge and watch,” he added.
The Democratic Party had previously released a recording involving suspicions of President Yoon and his wife’s influence on candidate nominations, featuring a call between President Yoon and Mr. Myung, a central figure in the allegations. According to the recording, on May 9, 2022, a day before the People Power Party announced its candidates for the by-elections, President Yoon told Mr. Myung, “The nomination committee brought me the list, so I said, ‘I actively supported Kim Young-sun during the primaries, so let Kim Young-sun handle it.’ But there’s much talk within the party.”
In response, Mr. Myung said, “I will never forget your kindness for the rest of my life.” The day after their conversation, President Yoon officially took office as the 20th President, and the People Power Party announced their by-election candidates. Kim was indeed nominated as the party’s candidate in the Changwon Uichang district and subsequently won the election.