The presidential office flatly denied claims by an election broker Tuesday that he frequently communicated with President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee during Yoon’s campaign for the People Power Party (PPP) presidential nomination in 2021.

Myung tae-kyun, a shadowy figure who ran a public opinion polling agency, claimed in media reports that he met Yoon and his wife in June 2021 and advised them regularly for about six months until the end of the presidential primary in November of that year.

“It is an absurd claim that Myung spoke to the president and first lady on speakerphone every day for six months,” a senior presidential official said in a release.

The official also clarified that the text messages exchanged between Myung and Kim were part of a private conversation before Yoon joined the PPP in July 2021.

One message shows Kim saying, “Please forgive our brother (oppa in Korean) for speaking carelessly.”

The official explained that the “brother” referred to in the message was Kim’s bio
logical brother, not Yoon.

Myung has been implicated in a political scandal involving allegations of the first lady’s interference in PPP candidate nominations ahead of the April general elections.

The scandal involves claims that Myung used his connections with Yoon and Kim to help former PPP lawmaker Kim Young-sun secure nomination for a by-election in Changwon and Uichang, South Gyeongsang Province, in 2022.

Source: Yonhap News Agency