Presidential office says Yoon 'severed' ties with self-proclaimed power broker at center of allegations

The presidential office said Friday that President Yoon Suk Yeol had "severed" ties with a self-proclaimed power broker at the center of allegations that Yoon was involved in the nomination of a candidate for the parliamentary by-elections in 2022, when he was president-elect.

Presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk also refuted claims from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) that Yoon influenced the candidate selection process of the People Power Party (PPP) to favor Kim Young-sun, a former lawmaker, for a district in South Gyeongsang Province ahead of the June 2022 parliamentary by-elections.

Chung told lawmakers that Yoon had communicated with the self-proclaimed power broker, Myung Tae-kyun, in the early stages of his presidential campaign but "coldly severed" ties with him for a while and received the congratulatory call a day before the inauguration ceremony.

The DPK has released records of a phone conversation between Yoon and Myung, escalating political attacks against Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee over alleged interference by Myung in the ruling party's candidate nominations.

Chung, speaking at a parliamentary audit session of the House Steering Committee, defended Yoon, saying he neither received recommendations and reports from the party nor issued directives concerning nominations.

"President Yoon has not engaged in any illegal activities like interference in party nominations and elections," Chung said.

In the recording, released by the DPK on Thursday, Yoon can be heard saying, "The nomination committee brought it to me, so I said since Kim Young-sun campaigned hard during the primaries, give it to her, but the party's saying a lot about this."

The DPK claimed the conversation took place May 9, 2022, a day before Yoon's inauguration and Kim Young-sun won the party's nomination.

Chung said the short clip was taken out of context for the opposition's "political purposes," and Yoon, then president-elect, was not bound by legal requirements for political neutrality.

"The phone conversation does not raise any issue politically, legally or from a commonsense perspective," he added.

The development comes amid an intensifying scandal over alleged interference by Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee in the PPP's nomination process.

During a party meeting, DPK floor leader Park Chan-dae accused the presidential office of lying about Yoon's ties with Myung, pressuring the president to directly explain the context of their conversation and take responsibility for it. (Yonhap)