President’s Office “Have you met Tae-gyun Myeong before?” “Nothing after the presidential primary”

Regarding Mr. Myung’s claim that Myung Tae-gyun, a key figure in First Lady Kim Kun-hee’s ‘suspicion of interference in nominations’, frequently visited President Yoon Seok-yeol’s home in Seocho-dong, Seoul (Acrobitstar), the President’s Office said, “It is greatly exaggerated and different from the truth,” but said that President Yoon He revealed that he had met Mr. Myeong. The President’s Office has so far said, “We have no separate position” on Mr. Myeong.

A senior official in the Presidential Office said in a phone call with the on the 7th, “When the story about Mr. Myung appeared in the media, President Yoon said (in 2021) that Mr. Myeong once visited his (Acrovista) house with a famous politician from the People Power Party. there is. “He said it was the first time he saw it.” When asked, ‘Did we meet again after that?’ he answered, “We probably did.” However, he said that he thought we should not continue to communicate, so he stopped seeing each other after the presidential primary ended and there was almost no communication after that.” President Yoon was elected as the People Power Party’s presidential candidate on November 5, 2021. He said, “I understand that there was a suggestion within us at the time that it would be better not to have any contact with Mr. Myeong.”

This official denied Myeong’s claim that he had been offered participation in the presidential transition committee and a public position in the current government, but turned it down, saying, “I have never done that.” Regarding Mr. Myeong’s attendance at President Yoon’s inauguration ceremony in May 2022, he said, “I just invited all the people who were around me here and there (to the inauguration ceremony).”

Regarding the suspicion of Mrs. Kim’s involvement in the nomination, this official said, “Ms. Kim has not continued to communicate with Mr. Myeong (during the general election), and (Ms. Kim) has said that in principle, it is difficult to deal with Mr. Myeong’s lobbying that pushed for former lawmaker Kim Young-sun.” “That’s what I contacted you for,” he said. “It’s nothing more or less than that.”

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, who served as chairman of the transition committee, said, “Among the transition committee members close to me, Mr. Myeong has never been mentioned as a transition committee member.” However, a former lawmaker who played a key role in Rep. Ahn’s presidential campaign said, “Choi Jin-seok, professor emeritus of philosophy at Sogang University, who was the head of the campaign’s standing election committee, said that he had been contacted by someone who said he had a direct line with then-candidate President Yoon.” “I understand that in the end, the unification discussions through that channel came to nothing, but I think they were probably talking about Mr. Myeong,” he said.