The campaign of Baek Young-hyun, the People Power Party candidate for Pocheon mayor, has strongly pushed back against allegations of cash transfers, calling them an "orchestrated leading-question recording." The alleged deliveryman of the cash, identified only by the surname Baek, has also denied the claims, stating he "never delivered any money or valuables," while the Democratic Party of Korea continues its offensive demanding a "direct explanation."
Baek's election campaign committee issued a statement on the 1st, dismissing the allegations as "a clear falsehood based on a thoroughly intended and fabricated 'leading-question private recording' reported through specific media outlets."
According to the campaign committee, the man surnamed Baek, identified in the recording as the person who delivered the shoes, stated through an official written confirmation that "I have never paid even a single won to candidate Baek Young-hyun." The committee explained that he "merely went along with malicious leading questions in a private setting without realizing their nature."
The Baek campaign also said it had "confirmed that the spouse of the person on the recording held personal grievances against candidate Baek." The committee reportedly testified to this context during a police investigation on the 29th of last month.
The committee stated, "This is a malicious act of intentionally inducing conversation by exploiting personal connections and spreading it across the election landscape," adding, "We have filed a complaint with investigative authorities against those who carried out and disseminated the calculated, malicious recording." It further warned, "We will hold accountable to the end those involved in reporting and spreading false information through fabricated recordings to overturn unfavorable polling in the final stages of the election."
Earlier, the campaign of Park Yoon-kook, the Democratic Party of Korea candidate, had demanded that Baek explain allegations involving the receipt of 5 million won in cash hidden in shoes, as well as recordings suggesting that 1 million won had been delivered to a local reporter identified as B.
A Park campaign official continued the offensive, stating, "Citizens' questions cannot be resolved through legal action alone without an explanation of the allegations," and "the truth must be uncovered."
The Gyeonggi Provincial chapter of the Democratic Party also issued a statement pressing the issue: "What citizens want to know is not a political explanation but the truth. Candidate Baek must directly answer before the citizens of Pocheon whether he actually met with the businessman in question, and why such specific circumstances and recordings have emerged."
