[Exclusive] Kim Min-seok and Song Young-gil, who raised allegations of Shincheonji involvement, face complaints from civic group

[Financial News] Kim Min-seok and Song Young-gil, both candidates for party leader who raised allegations of Shincheonji involvement during the DPK's Aug. 17 national convention process, have been accused by a civic group.
According to police on the 30th, the Committee for the Protection of Ordinary People's Livelihood filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency the previous day against Kim and Song on charges including violations of the Public Official Election Act, obstruction of the exercise of rights through abuse of authority, and defamation. After assigning the case, police plan to review it and decide whether to question the complainant.
In the complaint, the group argued that the two lawmakers dragged the Shincheonji involvement allegations into the convention as a key issue, deepening confusion among party members and undermining the fairness of the election.
Earlier, Kim said at a joint speech event for the preliminary party leadership race on the 20th, "The essence of this national convention is to break the secret three-way alliance of anti-Lee Jae-myung forces, division, and Shincheonji." The next day, after a meeting with party leadership candidates at the Seoul Metropolitan Council, he also told reporters, "We need to go through each issue one by one, such as the fact that a special counsel investigation into Shincheonji has not been carried out."
On the 27th, on his social networking service, he said, "I propose to Han Byung-do, acting party leader, that we protect the stability of the party and the convention while cooperating with the Shincheonji investigation," and added, "Organized interference in primaries will be judged forever, whether by the leader, officials, branch members, or ordinary believers."
The group stressed that such remarks spread allegations that "during this convention, Shincheonji members joined the DPK as rights-holding party members and organized support for party leadership candidate Jung Chung-rae, potentially distorting the will of party members."
Kim, however, says his remarks were not aimed at any specific candidate, but were meant as a warning about the possibility of Shincheonji's political interference.
The group also cited Song's remarks highlighting the Shincheonji interference theory during the DPK convention, based on a case from the People Power Party's presidential primary, as a reason for the complaint.
On the 21st, Song posted on his social networking service that he had met former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, saying, "We shared the regret that if there had been no Shincheonji interference in the People Power Party's 2021 presidential primary, Hong Joon-pyo, not Yoon Suk Yeol, would have become the presidential candidate," and added, "After the presidential election, I heard a shocking story about a direct meeting between the leader Lee Man-hee and Hong."
On the 27th, he proposed to Shin Jang-sik, the newly elected leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP), that the two parties compare their membership rolls to identify and remove dual party memberships, saying, "This is absolutely necessary, especially to cut off any room for political interference by some pseudo-religious groups."
Jung, meanwhile, has rejected the allegations of collusion surrounding him, calling the Shincheonji interference claims in the convention a baseless political operation and an act against the party. He has also called for an apology from Kim and others who raised the allegations, as well as a thorough fact-finding investigation by the party.

[email protected] Park Seong-hyeon Reporter