National Power Party Leader Jang Dong-hyuk Holds Press Conference [Yonhap News]

The National Power Party on the 4th pressured the Democratic Party to resolve the 'nomination fee reception allegations' involving former floor leader Kim Byung-ki and expelled lawmaker Kang Sun-woo through a special prosecutor's investigation.

In a Facebook post that day, Leader Jang Dong-hyuk stated, "Listening to the recordings of Kim Byung-ki and Kang Sun-woo, it should have been an issue that was quietly resolved by Kang returning 100 million won to Kim Gyeong (a candidate during the 2022 local elections)." However, the situation unfolded in the opposite direction. The next day, Kim Gyeong received a single nomination certificate," he said.

Jang speculated, "If that's the case, Kang Sun-woo must have had someone backing her to confidently secure a single nomination," adding, "We don't know who that backer was. However, it's likely someone higher up than Kim Byung-ki."

He continued, "The party leader at the time was President Lee Jae-myung," and "This is why a special prosecutor is needed."

Senior Spokesperson Choi Bo-yun also issued a statement urging a special prosecutor's investigation into the nomination backdoor deal allegations surrounding former Floor Leader Kim. These allegations claim that Kim received and returned money from former Dongjak District council members before the 2020 general election.

Recently, former lawmaker Lee Su-jin, who was not nominated in last year's general election, made claims that a petition containing these allegations was delivered to Kim Hyun-ji, an aide to then-party leader Lee Jae-myung (currently the first deputy chief of the Presidential Office).

Senior Spokesperson Choi stated, "What is even more appalling is that despite the petition being delivered to then-President Lee's office, no official action was taken, and it was ultimately returned to former Floor Leader Kim's side." He argued, "This raises suspicions that their criminal charges were overlooked in exchange for them wielding the 'knife of nominations leading to the demise of non-Lee loyalists'."

He urged, "The Democratic Party must answer to the public why President Lee and Director Kim Hyun-ji did not request an investigation after receiving the petition and instead handed it over to the parties involved, and what the leadership was doing while stacks of money were being exchanged in 'shrimp cracker shopping bags'." He added, "We urge you to immediately accept a special prosecutor to reveal the truth clearly."

The New Reform Party stated that both the ruling Democratic Party and the main opposition National Power Party are not free from nomination fee allegations and that the entire election system needs to be reviewed.

New Reform Party Senior Spokesperson Lee Dong-hoon stated in a commentary that day, "This incident shows that the system of selling and buying official positions is tenaciously alive." He criticized, "Members of the National Assembly sell nominations to local election candidates, local council members make payoffs, and the money flows back to influential figures in the central government. It is a payoff system for organized crime and a corrupt food chain in the animal kingdom."

Spokesperson Lee asserted, "As long as the monopolistic structure of the two major established parties, where 'nomination equals election,' persists, nomination fees will not disappear." He urged, "Reform the entire election system, including the constituency system, and truly, with your own hands, surgically remove the evil practice of nomination fees that lives on like a zombie."