People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jae-seop again raised allegations about Democratic Party of Korea Seoul mayoral preliminary candidate Chong Won-o's business trip to Cancun, Mexico.
On the afternoon of Apr. 2, Kim attended the People Power Party's general assembly at the National Assembly and said, "There are three major problems regarding candidate Chong Won-o's trip."
Kim said, "First, the Cancun trip itself is not convincing," adding, "They called Cancun, a representative resort destination, a stopover, but it turned out there was a two-night stay. Who spends two nights at a stopover?" Kim said, "I also heard there was snorkeling," adding, "Who goes snorkeling during a stopover?"
Kim said, "An enormous budget of 30 million won went into the schedule that included Cancun," adding, "The accompanying civil servant is in charge of youth policy, so what does that have to do with what was done in Cancun?"
Kim also raised allegations of falsifying official documents. He said, "The document lists Namsung and received a qualified determination," adding, "In the materials we first obtained, there were no signatures from the screening committee members at all, but in the materials received later, the committee members' signatures were recorded. That means the committee members signed after the fact." Kim said, "This could be considered the crime of drafting a false official document."
Lastly, Kim brought up personnel matters. He said, "(The employee who accompanied the trip) was promoted from level 5 to level 4 in two and a half years, which is truly drastic and unusual," adding, "Framing this as misogyny is just muzzling the very act of raising the issue."
Kim said, "I do not fight losing battles," adding, "If lawmakers show interest and lend firepower, I will work so that we win starting with Seoul and then win all the local elections."
As Kim continues to press the allegations, the Democratic Party said it will file a complaint against Kim with the National Assembly Special Committee on Ethics. Democratic Party floor spokesperson Moon Kum-ju met with reporters after a closed-door floor countermeasures meeting that day and said, "(In the closed-door meeting) there was discussion that, in response to the party filing complaints (against Kim) and taking various measures, the floor should file with the Ethics Committee," adding, "We plan to proceed with the procedures."