South Korean Presidential Candidate Lee Jae-myung’s pro-China, pro-North Korea, Anti-ROK-US Alliance, Anti-Human Rights Background

2021-11-3, Tara O

South Korea’s presidential election will be on March 9, 2022.  Lee Jae-myung (이재명) is the presidential candidate from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (Deobureo Minjoo Party).  He was the governor of Gyeonggi Province (which surrounds Seoul) until late October 2021.  Prior to that, he was the mayor of Seongnam City (just south of Seoul).  Lee Jae-myung’s main support base is a pro-North Korea group. He has a pro-China political stance.  His conduct toward the critics of the North Korean regime and of himself has been abusive and inhumane.

Pro-China

Lee Jae-myung ran for president in the last election, which was held in early 2017.  During the campaign in 2017, he interviewed with the Chinese state media CCTV.  Lee Jae-myung said, “if I become president, I will renege on the THAAD deployment,” thereby agreeing to one of the “3 Nos” demanded by China.  The THAAD is deployed to South Korea to respond to North Korea’s missile threats, and the governments of South Korea and the United States agreed on the deployment.  China has strongly opposed this move.

Anti ROK-US Alliance

Lee Jae-myung also has made anti-U.S. statements, casting the U.S. in a negative light calling the U.S. an occupation force, when he said ” In fact, the pro-Japanese faction (Koreans), whom the U.S. was not able to liquidate, joined with the U.S. occupation forces, retaining the control system, didn’t they?” at the Yi Yuk-sa Cultural Center (이육사문학관) on July 1, 2021.  Former National Assemblyman Kim Moon-soo retorted by saying “that perception [viewing the U.S. as an occupation force, which implies harming Korea] is the starting point of Jusapa’s [Adherents of Kim Il-sung/Kim Jong-il] view of history.”  Lee’s comments came on the heels of lecture materials to students at Baekseok High School by Kim Won-woong (김원웅), the president of Heritage of Korean Independence (광복회).  Kim Won-woong stated, “after liberation, American forces (McArthur) were occupation forces and the Soviet forces (Chistyakov) were liberation forces.”

Kim Joon-hyung (김준형), the chancellor of Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA) until early August 2021, made more negative comments about the U.S. military and the alliance.  In his book Paradoxes of Eternal Alliance published in March 2021, Kim joon-hyung wrote “The U.S.-ROK alliance has been tilted since its inception” and “the U.S. was actually more of a new occupying force of colonists than a ‘liberator’ who had removed 35 years of (Japanese) imperialism.” He continued, “South Korea has been addicted to the U.S.-ROK alliance. It resembles the phenomenon of ‘gaslighting’ by overwhelming opponents,” and advocated the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from Korea by saying, “the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Korea may be a process of establishing a peace regime on the Korean peninsula.”  The “peace regime” spoken by Kim Joon-hyung does not necessarily mean “peace without the North Korean threat.”  Kim is part of the group centered around Moon Chung-in, Moon Jae-in’s former Special Envoy for Foreign Affairs and National Security.

Lee Jae-myung hired Kim Joon-hyung as the Special Envoy for Foreign Affairs for his election camp.

Pro-North Korea group as power base

Lee Jae-myung’s main support base is Gyeonggi Dongbu Yonhap (경기동부연합), roughly translates as the Eastern Gyeonggi Confederation, a pro-North Korea organization.  It is known to be comprised of the “NL” or National Liberation line, especially Jusapa, those who pledged allegiance to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. It sees the Workers’ Party of Korea as the sole legitimate political party on the Korean Peninsula, and pursues a unified Korea under the Kim Family Regime in North Korea via federation. 

The Eastern Gyeonggi Confederation is considered the real power behind the now-defunct Unified Progressive Party that was led by Lee Seok-ki, who was jailed for sedition.  Lee Seok-ki, a key member of both anti-state and pro-North Korea organizations BanJeChongNyeoDongMang (반제청년동맹) (Anti Imperialist Youth League) and Minhyuk-dang (민혁당) (National Democratic Revolutionary Party), created an underground organization called the Revolutionary Organization.  The goal of these organizations are the same as North Korea’s goal of creating a socialist revolution in South Korea and unify it under North Korea’s Kim regime, which they call National Liberation People’s Democratic Revolution (NLPDR).   For details, see the Constitutional Court’s decision in 2014 to ban the Unified Progressive Party (a 442-page document in English that can be downloaded here.) Their key step in achieving NLPDR is to expel the U.S. troops from South Korea.

Even those with labor activist backgrounds are criticizing Lee Jae-myung and his support group, the Eastern Gyeonggi Confederation.  At a discussion seminar on “how to View the Eastern Geyonggi Confederation” held on September 27, 2021, Min Kyeong-woo (민경우) stated the Eastern Geyonggi Confederation and Lee Jae-myung joined forces for mutual benefit.  Min said, “It was well known that the Eastern Geyonggi Confederation’s political leaning is Jusapa, but Lee Jae-myung’s side, which lacked a support base (to run in the 2010 election for Seongnam Mayor)…joined in a coalition with them” and “the Eastern Geyonggi Confederation gained an opportunity to expand its power, using Lee.”  A labor activist, Min Kyeong-woo was the Secretary General of the “South Side” Pan-Korean Alliance for Korean Reunification, known as BeomMinNyeon (범민련) in Korea, for 10 years from 1995.  BeomMinNyeon is a leftist organization that has opposed ROK-US military exercises, and it also has its headquarters in Pyongyang. Instead of “South Korea,” it uses the term “South Side.” 

Another labor activist, who played an important role in creating the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), is Kim Jun-yong.  Kim stated that he is disappointed that the Eastern Gyeonggi Confederation has taken over the control of KCTU recently, adding, “their bullying and violence have been against not the strong, but the society’s weak, harassing and driving the weak to death.  They have turned into evil thugs.”

The Eastern Gyeonggi Confederation is firmly rooted in Seongnam.  With the Eastern Geyonggi Confederation as his support base, Lee Jae-myung was elected as the mayor of Seongnam City.  Lee then brought his support base into the Seongnam City government, starting with the acquisitions department, where fundings get directed.

Note:  an important air base, K-16, is located in Seongnam City.

Investigated Defectors Sending Leaflets to North Korea

Lee Jae-myung, as governor of Gyeonggi Province, has a variety of government resources at his disposal.  When Kim Yo-jong, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, complained about the leaflet sending by defector groups in South Korea in June 2020, Lee Jae-myung responded quickly, saying, “I will arrest on the spot those who are distributing leaflets to North Korea as criminals…I’ll pre-emptively block all possible ways. I’ll designate a part of the border area as a ‘dangerous area’ and prohibit the entry of those planning to send leaflets to North Korea…and place special police at the location.”  Lee sent police to harass them with “investigations” making spurious charges. 

For instance, Lee Jae-myung charged Lee Min-bok (이민복), an escapee from North Korea and the leader of one of the organizations that send leaflets to North Korea, with fraud and embezzlement.  According to Lee Min-bok, the police conducted extremely thorough investigations as if to “dust every dust” by reviewing every personal and organizational account that had been used for the past decade, as well as seven face-to-face interrogations.  After 9 months of investigations, Lee Min-bok was cleared of the charges.

His Own Brother to a Psychiatric Hospital

When Lee Jae-myung was the mayor of Seongnam, he tried to put his own brother Lee Jae-sun (이재선), an accountant, in a psychiatric hospital, against his will and without informing his brother’s family, for criticizing Lee for corruption. On April 10, 2012, Lee Jae-myung, his mother (then 82 years old), and his other siblings filed a request with the Seongnam City Mental Health Center about “helping Lee Jae-seon.”  Lee instructed and prodded Bundang District Health Center (within the administrative jurisdiction of Seongnam City) to admit his brother to a psychiatric hospital, and even sent an ambulance and two police officers to his brother’s residence.

His brother died in November 2017.  Lee Jae-sun’s family said he had no problem with mental health, stating, “it was an attempt to shut the mouth of (Lee Jae-sun) to prevent him from criticizing Lee Jae-myung’s administration of Seongnam City.”  Further, Lee Jae-sun’s family explained that the other siblings signed the request because they were “relying on Lee Jae-myung for their livelihoods” and the siblings had no problems prior to Lee Jae-myung running for mayor.

When the issue of Lee’s forcibly committing his brother to a mental institute surfaced as a controversy in 2018, Lee denied his role, by saying, “The forced admission of my older brother [to the psychiatric hospital] was done by his wife and daughter.” (4:24)  The Korean phrase can also be interpreted as “The forced admission of my older brother [to the mental hospital] was due to his wife and daughter.”  Lee Jae-myung’s wife’s phone conversation with her niece-in-law described below may shed additional light.

In a heated phone conversation between Lee Jae-myung’s wife, Kim Hye-kyung (김혜경), and Lee Jae-myung’s brother’s daughter recorded on June 7, 2012, Lee’s wife threatened her niece-in-law by yelling, “I stopped forcibly placing your dad in a (psychiatric) hospital all these times.  What your uncle (Lee Jae-myung) will do, just know that it’s due to you. You!” essentially threatening to forcibly put the niece’s father in a psychiatric hospital. (1:14)

On July 6, 2012, then-mayor Lee Jae-myung called his brother’s residence to talk to his brother, but his brother’s wife Park In-bok (박인복) answered the call.  The conversation began cordially, then rapidly degenerated.  Park implied that Lee schemed something because of the critique that her husband Lee Jae-sun wrote about the corruption in Lee Jae-myung’s administration of Seongnam.  Lee Jae-myung called her “b…ch” at least 7 times and made vulgar remarks of “shoving a knife” in her mother’s private body part.  The public is shocked by his vulgarity and hostility. This recording keeps on getting deleted online, but gets reloaded.  Here is a recording that has not been deleted yet (as of November 3, 2021):

For some time, it was unclear whether Lee Jae-sun ended up in a psychiatric hospital or not.  Lee Jae-myung was charged with abuses of authority for trying to forcibly commit his brother to a psychiatric hospital, as well as violating the election law.  It appeared that Lee’s plan to commit his brother failed, but his efforts, using his authority and resources as a mayor are well-recorded.

In Seongnam, the mayor has the authority to commit a person to a psychiatric hospital, but there must be a written request from a doctor at a public health facility after an evaluation.  Neither the first director nor the second director in the public health facility in the Bundang district of Seongnam City made the written request, although they were pressured by Lee.  Thus, despite Lee’s pressure, his brother Lee Jae-sun was not placed in the psychological hospital at that time.  Park Jung-oh (박정오), In an interview on November 29, 2018, Seongnam City’s Deputy Mayor under Lee Jae-myung, stated, “Two distressed public health directors came to me to plead for help.  They were instructed by Governor Lee, who was the mayor of Seongnam at the time, to force Mr. Lee Jae-sun into a psychiatric hospital.”

While Lee was the mayor, there were 25 cases of forcibly placing citizens in a psychiatric hospital in Seongnam.  By comparison, in Goyang City, which has a similar population size, there was no case of forcibly committing people to a mental health facility.  (18:36)

Lee Jae-myung faced various charges, including abuse of authority (related to to his efforts to put his brother in a psychiatric hospital) and violating the Public Election Law.  Both lower courts found Lee Jae-myung guilty, but the Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s ruling, and ruled not guilty for Lee on July 17, 2020.  If Lee were found guilty, he would not have been allowed to run for president again.  The Supreme Court Justice, who played a key role in overturning the lower court’s decision was Kwon Soon-il (권순일).  It turned out that the Supreme Court Justice Kwon was on a payroll of Hwacheon Daeyu, a company mired in the biggest corruption scandal in Korea related to Lee Jae-myung and a public development project in Daejang-dong neighborhood of Seongnam City.

Put Kim Sa-rang in a Psychiatric Hospital

Lee put another critic of him, a young woman, who goes by the name of Kim Sa-rang (김사랑) (real name Kim Eun-jin), in a mental health hospital, using the police.  At a press conference on February 8, 2018, Kim Sa-rang stated that the Seongnam City police kidnapped her and forcibly confined her in a psychiatric hospital.  She stated, “I posted comments on Mayor Lee Jae-myung’s Facebook account on May 2, 2015.  Afterwards, the City of Seongnam and the event planning business filed 9 lawsuits against me, for which I was fined ₩3 million (~$2,700).  It was while I was preparing for appeals that the Seongnam City police arrested me due to [someone] filing a missing person’s report and confined me in a psychiatric hospital.”  Her family did not file a missing person report. She had a large following on her Facebook, and posted “help” before her mobile phone was confiscated, the petition on the Blue House website shows. 

Some of her followers searched for her and found her at a psychiatric hospital.  They even posted a petition on the Blue House website on June 15, 2018 to ask to investigate the case, with a related YouTube video (As of November 1, 2021, the video is no longer available. Clicking the link shows that the YouTube account has been terminated).

Kim Sa-rang describes herself as an ordinary citizen, who used to vote only for the Democratic Party of Korea (Deobureo Minjoo Party). (2:19)  She volunteered to help the mom-and-pop shops in the traditional markets in Seongnam.  The Park Geun-hye administration provided ₩46.7 billion (~$40 million) to Seongnam to support these small shops, but the money never reached them. (2:49)  She, therefore, asked Mayor Lee Jae-myung about the funds, she did not get answers. (3:05)  For instance, she posted a comment on his Facebook account, asking “I heard that ₩46.7 billion was given (to the City). Why did it disappear?” (4:35) Her comment was soon deleted by Lee Jae-myung, so she kept on posting similar comments. What she did get were multiple lawsuits.

Kim Sa-rang also said that Lee Jae-sun, Lee Jae-myung’s brother, posted comments on her social media in 2016, writing that his brother (Lee Jae-myung) kept trying to commit him to a psychiatric hospital. (6:50)  Lee Jae-sun then contacted her again and asked her to make a corruption case known, since she has been so vocal.  This corruption was about the development project in Daejang-dong (Daejang neighborhood in the southern part of Seongnam City near Pangyo and Bundang districts), and he said it is a huge case that must be exposed, and began sending her materials. (7:38)

Indeed, this Daejang-dong-gate is turning out to be a major corruption scandal in South Korea, and has been reported heavily since September 2021.  It involves a mysterious asset management company HwaCheonDaeYu (화천대유), which received an explosive rate of return as a contractor for the City of Seongnam’s $1 billion public development project.  The public is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate this scandal.  More details on this corruption scandal and Lee Jae-myung’s link to gangsters continue to emerge.