Dead: 3 Key Witnesses of Corruption and Bribery Cases Linked to Presidential Candidate Lee Jae-myung

2022-1-13, Tara O

A Whistleblower, Lee Byung-chul (이병철), was found dead at a motel in Seoul on January 11, 2022.  He provided recordings on Lee Jae-myung’s legal fees paid by proxy.  Lee Byung-chul was the 3^rd person related to presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung’s corruption and bribery cases to be found dead.  The other two key witnesses who were also discovered dead were Yoo Han-ki (유한기) and Kim Moon-gi (김문기).

Lee Jae-myung faced trials for abusing authority (while he was the Seongnam mayor, which also included Lee Jae-myung trying to commit his own brother to a psychiatric hospital for criticizing him for corruption) and violating the Public Election Act.  Lee Jae-myung had a massive defense team of high-priced lawyers.  Lee Jae-myung was found guilty in the lower courts, which would have prevented him from running for an elected office, but the Supreme Court overturned the verdict on July 17, 2020.  It turned out that Kwon Soon-il (권순일),  the former Supreme Court Justice, was paid ₩20,000,000 ($17,000) per month in consulting fees from Hwacheon Daeyu four months after the overturned verdict.  Hwacheon Daeyu is an asset management company sole-selected on a $1 billion Sengonam-sponsored housing development project, which became the center of yet another corruption and bribery scandal called Daejang-dong Gate.

Lee Byung-chul’s recordings exposed that Lee Tae-hyung (이태형), the main lawyer for Lee Jae-myung’s trials, actually received ₩300 million ($252,000) and stocks worth ₩20 billion ($16.8 million) from Lee Jae-myung as proxy payments, which is different from Lee Jae-myung’s claim that the fees for the entire legal defense team of 14 lawyers was less than ₩300 million ($252,000).  Lee Byung-chul wrote on social media that he will not commit suicide and will live to see the day when his young kids grow up and get married.  That was posted on the day of the death of yet another key witness to the corruption and bribery case related to Lee Jae-myung called Daejang-dong Gate or Hwacheon Daeyu Gate. 

Lee Byung-chul made it clear that he would not be committing suicide and that those around him were also concerned about their safety. 

On December 10, 2021, Lee wrote:  “Although my current life is ruined, I absolutely have no thoughts about committing suicide. I want to see my daughter and son get married.” 

[This was posted on the same day Yu Han-gi, a key witness in the Daejang-dong Gate, was found dead.]

On December 21, 2021, Lee wondered: “Is Kim Hyun-ji alive?”

On December 22, 2021, Lee wrote:  This morning, those who were on the front line in anti-Lee Jae-myung activities are busy checking with each other whether people are alive or not. (nervous laugh).  Why didn’t lawyer Lee Min-seok answer the phone in the morning, causing an emergency situation~” (to verify whether people are alive or not).

When Lee Byung-chul could not be contacted, Lee Min-seok posted on social media that he could not contact Lee Byung-cheol for 3 days and that Lee Byung-chul was reported missing by his sister.  Lee Min-seok then asked if anyone else knew what happened to him, stating that Lee Byung-chul is the one who whistle blew on Lee jae-myung’s lawyer fee scandal. 

Lee Byung-chul was clear he did not want to end his life, and that he and others were concerned about their safety and lives.

Prior to Lee’s death, Yoo Han-ki, former head of Construction Development Divison of Seongnam Development Corporation (성남도시개발공사), and Kim Moon-gi (김문기), 1st Director of Project Development, were found dead on the 10th and 21st of December 2021, respectively. They were involved in the Daejang-dong corruption case.

With the three consecutive deaths of major witnesses of the scandals related to Lee Jae-myung, the public is demanding investigations.  People Power Party and even Justice Party are calling for investigations as well.

Netizens have raised the issue of Lee Jae-myung’s ties to Mafia International, and the recent release of its leader Lee Jun-seok (not the same person as the PPP leader with the same name) on parole. 

Lee Jae-myung has already been convicted of 4 crimes.  His campaign slogan was “Lee Jae-myung will do it” until he changed it to “Forward, Appropriately, For me, Lee Jae-myung” on December 29, 2021.

According to the Gallup Korea poll conducted on January 4-6 and reported on January 7, 2022, support for Lee Jae-myung was 36% (decreased), Yoon Seok-youl 26% (decreased), and Ahn Cheol-soo 15% (increased).  In another poll by Southern Post commissioned by CBS broadcaster covering January 7-8, 2022, and released on January 9, 2022, the results were:  Lee Jae-myung 34.1%, Yoon Seok-youl 26.4%, and Ahn Cheol-soo 12.8%.

South Korea’s presidential election is on March 9, 2022.