Floor leader Han Byung-do of the Democratic Party of Korea said on the 14th that the People Power Party's allegation about Democratic Party Seoul mayoral candidate Chong Won-o's assault case is "a falsehood from 30 years ago," adding, "We must respond sternly and decisively to such wicked conduct."
At a policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly on the morning of the same day, the floor leader said, "Listening to talk about the Seoul mayoral election, I thought the People Power Party truly befits a coup-plotting force and never changes," delivering this view.
He went on, "It is nothing more than a one-sided claim about events 30 years ago based solely on assertions by the opposing side, then the Democratic Liberal Party," adding, "It is exactly the same as what happened during the Gyeonggi Province parliamentary audit I underwent in the past."
Kim Jae-seop of the People Power Party on the previous day released the 1995 Yangcheon District Council stenographic record from when the candidate was working as secretary to the Yangcheon District mayor. The record contained a council member's question to the effect that "(the candidate) drank about 150,000 won worth of alcohol at a cafe, then demanded to spend the night with a female employee from the cafe owner but was refused, and when a customer at the neighboring table tried to dissuade him, he assaulted the customer."
The floor leader brought up the allegation raised during the 20th presidential race that "President Lee Jae-myung took a 2 billion won bribe from gangsters." Jang Young-ha, the People Power Party's district chapter head for Sujeong-gu in Seongnam, who raised the allegation, was sentenced by the Supreme Court in March to one year in prison, suspended for two years, for announcing false information under the Public Official Election Act.
The floor leader said, "At the time, the People Power Party said President Lee Jae-myung received bundles of cash from gangsters," adding, "They said if this breaks, the president is finished, but it ultimately turned out to be a mishap."
Lee Ju-hee, the party's floor spokesperson, also told reporters after the policy coordination meeting the same day, "The People Power Party, without any vision or policies for how to develop Seoul, is fixated on running down the opposing candidate," adding, "If they continue black propaganda wrapped in falsehoods, it will only heighten the public's fatigue."