DP Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom: 24-Year-Old Article About Kim Min-seok Saying 'I'll Kill Roh Moo-hyun' Is False

Ahead of the Democratic Party's August 17 national convention, as an old report claiming that Supreme Leader candidate Kim Min-seok said "I'll kill Roh Moo-hyun" during the 2002 presidential election spreads online, Representative Kim Eui-kyeom—who wrote the original article—stepped forward today (July 31) to clarify that it is untrue.

Representative Kim, a former journalist for the Hankyoreh, posted an article on Facebook titled "A Correction 24 Years in the Making," writing, "Web flyers claiming that candidate Kim said 'I'll kill Roh Moo-hyun' are being widely distributed, and the source was a 24-year-old 'Hankyoreh 21' article I wrote. Feeling that this is wrong, I am setting the record straight."

In his November 2002 article titled "Strategist Roh Moo-hyun Finally Did It," Kim reported that during candidate unification negotiations between then-New Millennium Democratic Party candidate Roh Moo-hyun and National Unity 21 candidate Chung Mong-joon, candidate Kim Min-seok of Chung's camp kicked the negotiation table, stormed out of the room, and made the harsh remark, "I'll kill Roh Moo-hyun."

Regarding this, Kim stated, "The article was published based on reporting centered around officials from the Democratic Party's election committee at the time, but I was unable to verify it with candidate Kim because I could not reach him." He added, "Later, candidate Kim called me, and after hearing his explanation, the facts were different."

"I immediately published an interview article to give candidate Kim an opportunity to explain," he said, introducing the part where candidate Kim dismissed the remark about the late former President Roh as "martial arts novel-level talk" and an "absurd comedy."

Kim said, "I thought the matter was concluded with the interview article, but 24 years later, the article has crawled out of its grave and is haunting the Democratic Party convention," adding, "Only the unfavorable parts are being cherry-picked and distributed while candidate Kim's explanation is omitted."

He expressed regret, saying, "I find this situation deeply unfortunate," and added, "I simply hope for a clean and fair competition so that the Democratic Party can emerge stronger."

Candidate Kim's camp announced through a media notice, "The 2002 Hankyoreh 21 article concerning candidate Kim has been confirmed by its author to be partially untrue." They warned, "Nevertheless, if there are acts muddying the waters of the national convention with false claims to the contrary, we will take resolute action, including legal measures."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.