Lee Jun-seok alleges PPP conspiracy as feud over staged-attack scandal intensifies

Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok fired back Sunday at the People Power Party after it went on the offensive over the detention of Jung Yi-han, the party's former Busan mayoral candidate, on charges of staging a fake assault on himself. Lee said he suspected the PPP had orchestrated the affair, asking why "moths are swarming around" when he knows "who from the PPP conspired to make this happen."

Lee made the remarks in a series of social media posts from Saturday night through Sunday, noting that Jung had previously worked as a PPP aide.

"I have no intention of tolerating this brazen reversal of blame," Lee said. "I am not staying silent because I don't know who from the PPP approached Jung and planted strange ideas in his head. If a certain candidate's camp made an improper proposal to Jung, you are finished."

On the question of conservative candidate consolidation in the Busan mayoral race, Lee said the Reform Party had barred all its candidates from entering any such talks as a matter of party policy. "That means the question of who created the circumstances that led the former candidate to decide to pursue consolidation — and what happened at the moment he became convinced — is something we have pieced together after the fact, in fragments," he said.

People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo, who served as standing election campaign committee chairman for PPP Busan mayoral candidate Park Heong-joon, pushed back in a Facebook post Sunday, calling Lee's conspiracy allegation "a brazen reversal of blame that will only further enrage the Busan voters who were deceived."

Joo said Jung staged the fake attack on April 27, and that Reform Party Secretary General Lee Gi-in tried to contact Jung on May 19 but was unable to reach him for an extended period. "Around that time, Jung had already confessed to the entire crime to police," Joo said. "Reform Party officials were embedded in the campaign — how could they not have known what was happening in the police investigation?"

Joo said that if the PPP had known about the staged attack, as Lee claimed, it would have disclosed the information immediately. "The PPP had absolutely no reason to help Jung split the vote," he said, calling on Lee to "stop muddying the waters and immediately disclose what he knows."

Joo also lashed out at Busan police, saying they had obtained Jung's confession but delayed his arrest and any public announcement so he could complete the race. "That is because it was advantageous for Democratic Party candidate Jeon Jae-soo if Jung stayed in the race to the end," he said.

Earlier, Joo had said police concealed their knowledge of the staged attack and announced he would file a criminal complaint against the officers in the chain of command on charges including abuse of authority, dereliction of duty and violations of the Public Official Election Act.

Reform Party Secretary General Lee Gi-in said in a Facebook post that the party bore responsibility for nominating Jung as its candidate and would not shirk that responsibility, but added that "some people are distorting the facts with reckless political attacks."

Lee Gi-in noted that Jung was able to hold a May 20 press conference at the Busan City Council despite the Reform Party having no Busan city council members. "Doesn't that answer the question of who he was coordinating with?" he said. He added that the party had deliberately refrained from publicly naming the PPP, which he said had tried to poach the candidate under the guise of consolidation talks. "That was the right thing to do, since this happened within our own party," he said.