Kim Min-seok's Notepad Mentions "Seoul Mayor Candidate Chong-rae"; Jung Chung-rae Responds: "Write Down Min-seok and Young-gil Too"

Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok was captured by media cameras reviewing a notepad containing potential candidates for the next Seoul mayor during a plenary session of the National Assembly on the 9th.

In the published photo of the notepad, the name "Chong-rae" along with four other names could be seen faintly.

While the other names are difficult to clearly identify, political circles are speculating whether they might be "Hoon-shik," "Won-shik," and "MJ."

A by-election for Seoul mayor could take place if the ruling stripping Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon of his public office is finalized, following his conviction in the first trial on charges of violating the Political Funds Act.

As interpretations arose that "Chong-rae" refers to lawmaker Jung Chung-rae, who competed for party leadership in the August 17 party convention, Jung strongly protested.

On Facebook, Jung protested, saying, "Last time (at the workshop) you grabbed the microphone and toyed with me, and now you hit me with a notepad? It's unpleasant." He added, "You attacked me with negative tactics so much during the party convention, and even though the convention is over and you won, why do you keep hitting the person who lost? Isn't it too cruel?"

He continued, "Min-seok and Young-gil, who dreamed of becoming Seoul mayor and lost, are also good candidates, so please write them down in your notepad as well."

Kim's notepad also captured text reading "Lee Jin-sook and Han Dong-hoon OUT."

Previously, Kim wrote on Facebook, "Suspicions of illegal behavior, the Chosun bad scissors, 5.18 denial, and anti-constitutional Kim Young-sam denial. Two disqualification decisions will likely be the natural destination of the river's current."

This is interpreted as an intention to push for the suspension of parliamentary qualifications targeting independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, who released a recording related to "suspicions of illegitimate lobbying for new drug clinical trial approval" involving Minister of Justice candidate Kim Seung-won, and People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-sook, who sparked controversy by holding a National Assembly seminar co-hosted with a right-wing group to re-examine the May 18 Democratization Movement.

In response, lawmaker Han protested on his Facebook page, asking, "Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok! Are you imitating Roh Sang-won's notepad?"

Directly attacking Kim, he compared it to the notepad of former Defense Intelligence Command Commander Roh Sang-won, which contained details about plotting the assassination of key figures during the December 3 emergency martial law.

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