In connection with the controversy over “excessive protocol” by Kim Hye-kyung, wife of the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, a transcript of the circumstances under which Bae, a fifth-grade secretary of the General Affairs Division of the Gyeonggi Provincial Office, reported to and instructed by a person named “wife” was released on the 14th. The People’s Power responded, “Are you going to claim that Mr. Bae’s ‘wife’ is not Mr. Kim?”
In the transcript released by TV Chosun on this day, in July of last year, Bae received a phone call from his wife while reprimanding Mr. A, a public interest informant. On the phone, Mr. Bae showed an attitude as if he was receiving instructions such as ‘I made a reservation’ or ‘I understand’. Mr. A claimed that Mr. Kim was the identity of the ‘wife’ mentioned by Mr. Bae.
Previously, Mr. Bae explained the controversy over excessive protocol with the intent of ‘I did it on my own’. In a statement on the 2nd, he said, “It was something that no one else did,” and said, “It came from a heart that was too young to set aside.” On the 7th, Hyun Geun-taek, spokesman for the Democratic Party’s Election Response Committee, said, “There is no such thing as Kim Hye-kyung’s direct instruction or involvement.”
Lee Yang-soo, senior spokesperson for the People’s Power Election Headquarters, made a comment on the same day, saying, “The explanation of the candidate Lee, who has claimed that the illegal protocol was ‘voluntarily done by Mr. Bae’, was found to be false. It is creating a big scandal,” he said.
Correspondent Jo Hye-sun, Donga.com hs87cho@donga.com
