Reform Party Supreme Council member Kim Seong-yeol said on the 23rd that he was resigning from his post as a Supreme Council member of the Reform Party as of today and leaving the party.
Kim, the former Supreme Council member, wrote on Facebook that it was true that one of the Democratic Party of Korea officials mentioned in connection with Kim Kyung, a Seoul City Council member, was him. He added, however, that he wanted to make clear that the claims being raised regarding the Gangseo District chief by-election currently include misunderstandings and exaggerations.
Kim, the former Supreme Council member, wrote that he had not engaged in any illegal acts, but that he would resign nonetheless to keep himself above reproach.
He continued, saying he, who left that politics after criticizing the Democratic Party's improper nomination process, could never do anything that would place even the slightest burden or harm on the Reform Party leadership and party members who joined him in the hope for new politics, and said he would actively cooperate with the investigation. He added that he hoped the Reform Party would press even more firmly and vigorously for a special counsel.
He added that he would return after being cleared and that, although he had made politics his lifelong profession, he had lived rightly without ever committing a crime even once, and that if people trusted him, he would surely return with the truth and properly repay that trust.
Earlier, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Public Crimes Investigation Unit received on the 19th a referral of a report from the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission regarding City Council member Kim and former City Council member A and is currently investigating. A recording obtained by police is said to include a conversation suggesting that Kim and A discussed who would receive money ahead of the October 2023 Gangseo District chief by-election. It was reported that the names of incumbent Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers were mentioned in the recording.