[명태균 파문]
People around Mrs. Kim “When you call Yun directly, ‘Oppa’
“When talking to others, I use the title ‘Mister’ and ‘President.’”
No: “It is proof of my brother’s involvement in the presidential election.”
In response to the expression ‘oppa’ appearing in the KakaoTalk message exchanged with Mrs. Kim released on the 15th by Myung Tae-gyun, a key person involved in Mrs. Kim Kun-hee’s ‘suspicion of intervention in nomination,’ the President’s Office explained that it was “Ms. Kim’s biological brother, not the president.” . New Reform Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok, who appears in this KakaoTalk conversation, claimed, “I don’t know of anyone else whom Mrs. Kim refers to as her brother.”
Mrs. Kim’s acquaintances said that Mrs. Kim, who is twelve years younger than President Yoon Seok-yeol, calls President Yoon “oppa,” but does not use that expression when talking about President Yoon to a third party. An official who knows Mrs. Kim well said, “Ms. Kim calls President Yoon ‘oppa’ when she calls him directly or on the phone, and even calls President Yoon ‘oppa’ in front of others,” but added, “When talking to other people, she calls President Yoon ‘uncle.’ It is also said as ‘President’. “I didn’t say he was my brother,” he explained. Another person said, “I have never referred to President Yoon as oppa in front of me,” but added, “I usually call President Yoon oppa, so I may have expressed it that way to people I am close to.”
In the ‘7-hour phone call recording’ with Mrs. Kim released by ‘Voice of Seoul’ in January 2022, Mrs. Kim refers to President Yoon as ‘uncle’ and ‘husband’. In the transcript, passages such as “My uncle and I are very much on Ahn Hee-jung’s side” and “My husband is the type of person who thought of Roh Moo-hyun and was loyal to Roh Moo-hyun and devoted himself to it only to be betrayed, because people don’t know the inside story.” Also, there is a part about ‘oppa’, and it says, “For example, there are several of us, including my oppa. The line, “If you give orders from here, we will organize a camp,” was interpreted as referring to Ms. Kim’s older brother.
Rep. Han Joon-ho, the highest member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on this day, “(If the older brother in the KakaoTalk message is your real older brother), the truth becomes more complicated.” “Isn’t that what you were doing?” he criticized. Rep. Park Joo-min of the same party criticized, “Is this her biological brother, who is said to have been deeply involved in the presidential election campaign in the transcripts of Ms. Kim that were reported in the past?” and “Even if it were her biological brother, would there be no secret intervention in the election?” The opposition party has raised suspicions that Ms. Kim’s brother was involved in the presidential election campaign and attended meetings at the president’s office.
Reporter Hwang Hyeong-jun constant25@donga.com
Reporter Shin Na-ri journari@donga.com