The Democratic Party of Korea announced on the 13th that it will file a complaint against Kim Moon-soo, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, for violations of the Political Funds Act. It determined that receiving approximately 175 million won through YouTube Super Chat from 2018 to 2022 falls under the 'crime of illegally receiving political funds.'
Park Beom-gye, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and head of the election campaign's legal support team, held a press conference at the party headquarters that afternoon, stating, 'Candidate Kim should abandon a presidential candidacy that is beyond his capacity and return to his original profession as an extreme-right YouTuber.'
According to the Democratic Party of Korea, Candidate Kim earned a total revenue of 175,646,580 won through the Super Chat feature of his YouTube channel 'Kim Moon-soo TV' from 2018 to 2022.
Park said, 'The National Election Commission announced in 2019 regarding Super Chat that it is a violation of Articles 2, Clause 1 and 45, Clause 1 of the Political Funds Act for a person engaged in political activities to receive contributions via YouTube.' He emphasized, 'If he was unaware of this warning from the Commission, he is unfit to be a politician, and if he continued to receive large amounts of Super Chat despite knowing, then he has committed an unscrupulous illegal act.'
He further emphasized, 'If he is convicted of violating the Political Funds Act with a fine of over 1 million won, he will lose his eligibility to run for office, and if the illegal receipt of over 175 million won in political funds is recognized, there is a very high likelihood of receiving a prison sentence.'
In addition, the Democratic Party of Korea filed a complaint against Park Jeong-hoon, a member of the People Power Party, and YouTuber Baek Kwang-hyun for the dissemination of false information. It also decided to file complaints against 11 regional heads affiliated with the People Power Party, including Oh Se-hoon, the mayor of Seoul, for violating the Public Official Election Act.
On the 3rd, Park criticized the comments made by Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, who stated that he would limit personal contact due to a report of 'conspiracy to attack' against him, calling it 'a tactic to delay the retrial of the case for violation of the Public Official Election Act.'
He also stated, 'If he becomes president, he declared he would create laws to nullify Supreme Court rulings, which is akin to inciting insurrection against the constitutional order.'
In response, Kim Ki-pyo, deputy head of the Democratic Party's legal support team, remarked, 'It is nonsense that is not worth refuting. He disseminated false information to defeat Candidate Lee Jae-myung, and we urge thorough investigation and punishment by the investigative agencies.'
Additionally, the Democratic Party stated that the YouTuber Baek posted a cleverly edited video on the 2nd on his own YouTube channel to defame Candidate Lee, indicating that it was a video that could mislead the general electorate into believing that 'Candidate Lee is evaluated as a villain by those around him' during the broadcast of a famous current affairs program on a terrestrial channel.
He added, 'Manipulating and editing videos to demonize a specific candidate is a serious crime that incites misunderstanding and hatred among voters, representing an attack on the character of Candidate Lee Jae-myung, as an individual, before being a politician.'
Regarding the People Power Party's council of mayoral and gubernatorial officials, he criticized it for 'clearly violating the obligation of political neutrality under the Public Official Election Act.' This was in reference to the council's statement on the 6th urging Candidate Kim and former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to achieve victory through unification in the presidential election.
The targets of the complaints include Mayor Oh, Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok, Busan Mayor Park Hyung-joon, Daejeon Mayor Lee Jang-woo, Sejong Mayor Choi Min-ho, Ulsan Mayor Kim Du-gyeom, Gyeongnam Governor Park Wan-soo, Gyeongbuk Governor Lee Cheol-woo, Gangwon Governor Kim Jin-tae, Chungnam Governor Kim Tae-heum, and Chungbuk Governor Kim Young-hwan.