"Inflated Rental Fees"... Silence vs. Offensive Over 'Gyeongseong Line'

[Anchor]

Documents submitted to Cheong Wa Dae by a former aide to Representative Kim Seung-won, who stepped down as nominee for Minister of Justice, contain allegations of accounting fraud, claiming he inflated "venue rental fees" and "workshop expenses" while serving as head of the Democratic Party's Gyeonggi Provincial Chapter. While Democratic Party Leader Kim Min-seok maintained his silence regarding the controversy surrounding Kim, the People Power Party continued its offensive, demanding clarification on whether the "Gyeonggi-Seongnam line" was involved in this cabinet reshuffle.

Ha Jeong-yeon reports.

[Reporter]

This is a dossier of suspected accounting fraud cases, one of the documents that Person A, a former aide to Democratic Party Representative Kim Seung-won, reportedly delivered to Senior Presidential Secretary for Political Affairs Hong Ik-pyo on September 17.

The 45-page PowerPoint document contains a total of 35 cases across seven categories related to the Democratic Party's Gyeonggi Provincial Chapter, which Kim had led.

The allegations range from a so-called "payback" scheme—in which some party staff were paid an additional 1 to 2 million won on top of their salaries and then returned the money to a separate account to be used for other purposes—to falsifying accounting records. In one case, 1.35 million won was recorded as spent on hotel rental fees for training sessions, while the actual training took place in the Gyeonggi Provincial Chapter's conference room. In another case, workshop costs for secretariat staff were inflated by about three times, with the remaining funds used elsewhere.

Democratic Party Spokesperson Shin Hyun-young said yesterday (September 22) that the party leader at the time was also unaware of the former aide submitting the petition, adding that the facts regarding additional allegations have not yet been confirmed.

[Shin Hyun-young / Democratic Party Spokesperson (YTN Radio 'Jang Seong-cheol's News Myeongdang'): "Regarding the costs and related matters, I understand that the Gyeonggi Provincial Chapter is currently in the process of verifying the facts."]

Democratic Party leadership, including Leader Kim Min-seok, has made no comments regarding the issue for more than three days since Kim's voluntary resignation.

The People Power Party held a national report rally at the National Assembly yesterday to condemn the administration's policy failures, stating that according to its own estimate, about 10,000 people, including party members and supporters, attended.

The People Power Party claimed that this cabinet reshuffle was a personnel catastrophe, citing the consecutive falls of ministerial nominees Yong Hye-in and Kim Seung-won, while also targeting Kim Hyeon-ji, Chief of the First Attached Office at Cheong Wa Dae.

[Jang Dong-hyeok / People Power Party Leader: "We know that behind all of this are the Gyeonggi-Seongnam line and Kim Hyeon-ji. But instead of 'Hyeon-ji noona,' they only ousted 'Hoon-sik hyung.'"]

The clashes between the ruling and opposition parties over this cabinet reshuffle appear to be leading to disputes over whether to summon key figures of the so-called "Gyeongseong line" as witnesses for the parliamentary audit.

(Video by Shin Dong-hwan | Video Editing by Lee Seung-hee)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.