Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate, said on the 1st regarding the allegations of comment manipulation by the far-right group 'Rebox School,' "I cannot dismiss the suspicion that the People Power Party is the actual backer." This is because the political benefits from the comment manipulation align with the interests of the People Power Party. In contrast, the People Power Party stated that it is unrelated to candidate Kim Moon-soo and called it "the Democratic Party's presidential plot."
The candidate met with reporters after finishing a rally at Woongbu Park in Andong, Gyeongbuk, on the same day, and said, "It makes no sense to say that the People Power Party is unrelated when looking at the substance, activities, and connections with personnel from Rebox School."
Earlier, a media outlet reported that the right-wing group 'Rebox School,' which supports former Presidents Lee Seung-man and Park Chung-hee, operated a comment team called 'Army of Fingers Saving the Country' (Savior's Fingers). Notably, it was also revealed that Rebox School signed a memorandum of understanding with Seoul National University of Education and provided the Yamun School program to 10 schools in the Seoul area.
The candidate stated, "While pretending to cultivate caregivers, Rebox School illegally wrote comments and handed out bogus certifications, instead of education. They praised candidate Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party while defaming me and spreading false information to politically attack me. The benefits from that were fully reaped by Kim Moon-soo and the People Power Party."
He also said, "There are reports that candidate Kim Moon-soo has signed an agreement with Rebox School, and they need to explain why they did that and that there is no relation. Just as there was a group like the 'Crusaders Freelancers,' the People Power Party has the DNA of comment manipulation. I firmly believe there is a strong correlation with the People Power Party." He added, "This is an act of violating constitutional order and must be investigated thoroughly."
However, the People Power Party stated it has no connection with candidate Kim Moon-soo or the People Power Party's election campaign team, calling it "the smell of the Democratic Party's presidential plot." Jang Dong-hyuk, the head of the Central Election Campaign Headquarters, said at a press conference on the same day, "To claim that the People Power Party or candidate Kim's camp is manipulating comments without any correlation or objective evidence is a negative offensive by the Democratic Party to cover up recent issues involving candidate Lee Jae-myung's son and writer Yoo Si-min."
In this regard, Jang mentioned an interview conducted by Kim Man-bae, a civilian businessman in the Daejang-dong case, with former National Union of Media Workers Chairman Shin Hak-lim, who was a specialized editorial member of Newstapa, just before the last presidential election. The content suggested that former President Yoon Seok-youl provided coffee to a loan broker, Jo Woo-hyung, in the Daejang-dong case to cover it up while investigating the Busan Savings Bank case at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. Jang said, "This time, it was also disseminated by the same media outlet three days before the main voting."