Jung camp says vehicle carrying candidate was attacked and damaged; Kim Min-seok calls for thorough investigation

The camp of Jung Chung-rae, a candidate in the Democratic Party of Korea's leadership race, said Tuesday that the vehicle carrying Jung was attacked and damaged.

In a message sent to reporters, Jung's camp said that after a joint speech event at the party's preliminary primary on Monday, "an incident occurred in which the vehicle carrying candidate Jung was struck with feet, tools and other objects, causing damage — police are now investigating." It also expressed "deep regret over the threats and violence directed at the candidate, who was inside the vehicle at the time."

Jung shared a news headline on Facebook about police launching an investigation into allegations of a "Jung Chung-rae assassination squad" recruitment scheme, writing: "A vehicle attack on top of an assassination squad. During the emergency martial law period, I nearly lost my life because of Noh Sang-won's notebook. I am devastated and heartbroken."

Fellow leadership candidate Kim Min-seok responded on X, formerly Twitter, calling the damage to Jung's vehicle "deeply regrettable" and urging that "the facts be established immediately and the possibility of recurrence eliminated."

Kim said any unlawful conduct, verbal abuse, insults, derogatory language or violence "is an anti-Democratic Party act and serves only as a pretext for sowing division and mounting a counterattack — it must be rooted out completely." He also called for an end to other irregularities, including dual party membership, ghost members and alleged involvement by the Shincheonji Church, and asked all party members to "voluntarily take on the role of safety guardians."