Rep. Lee Seong-yun Allegedly Threw Phone and Hurled Abuse at Aides; “Demanded Pet Name from Unmarried Female Staffer” Abuse Allegations Raised

Reporter Jeong has reportedly been investigating abuse allegations involving Lee for quite some time.

In particular, the "founding members" who had been with the office since its opening have all been replaced, and none remain.

Testimony is pouring in that the large-scale replacement of aides in Lee Seong-yun's office was caused by his "terrible abuse." Many former secretaries and assistant secretaries who left the office are telling the same story in one voice.

NewTamsa said that the roughly 30 aides who left Lee Seong-yun's office all commonly speak of this abuse.

Even more shocking is an allegation that he once threw a cell phone at a specific person's face. This was cited as one of the particularly terrible abuse cases.

The aide added that more could be learned by contacting reporters in the Jeonbuk region.

The host strongly criticized Lee Seong-yun's act of throwing a phone, asking, "Is it even possible for one person to do this to another?" Pointing out that the hard, large phone was effectively used as a weapon, the host stressed that this amounted to terrible abuse.

The aide said they were not dismissed by the office but that the aides themselves left Lee Seong-yun.

Describing the situation of leaving Lee Seong-yun's office, a former aide strongly stated, "We abandoned the lawmaker." The remark suggests that the aides did not simply quit their jobs but severed ties themselves, carrying dissatisfaction and criticism of Lee's conduct.

However, a Facebook post targeting Prime Minister Kim Min-seok closely resembled Lee's speech style, so the aides sensed he had written it himself and said they were greatly shocked.

The post, published on July 6, pointed out that Kim did not attend the National Assembly vote to lift Yoon Suk-yeol's martial law and asked, "They say you slept after taking cold medicine—what were the ingredients of that cold medicine?" The host noted that this post became a hot topic among the aides as well.

Lee Seong-yun has still not apologized for the inappropriate post, which turned out to contain untrue content, and reportedly did not follow even Kim Ho-jun's advice to apologize and end it.

At the time, Lee criticized Kim's declaration of candidacy as a "declaration that only blames others" and directly referred to the fact that former Prime Minister Kim did not attend the National Assembly session during the December 3 martial law.

Testimony emerged that Lee Seong-yun did not use direct profanity but harassed his aides in various ways. There were times he hurled verbal abuse continuously for an hour, and he even reportedly harassed them by sending Telegram messages nonstop for three hours.

It was pointed out that Lee Seong-yun's abuse is something even prosecutors do not inflict on their own staff. Opinions were raised that it appears to be a form of workplace abuse from a bygone era that was thought to have disappeared.

He reportedly hurled verbal abuse for an hour and vented his anger through Telegram messages for three hours. For the aides, every Telegram notification felt like torture that made their hearts sink, and they explained that under such conditions they could not keep working and had no choice but to leave.

The problem is that he created an alibi making it appear the aides had voluntarily come up with and used the pet names. This is criticized as dressing up a nickname the lawmaker unilaterally imposed as if it were a voluntary expression of intimacy by the aides.

Repeated defamation can be legally problematic, but Lee attempted to evade responsibility with this excuse, according to criticism.

The aides said they were worn out by how he went around telling reporters he would become party leader. The aide criticized the fact that he acted as if he were a "kingmaker," saying it was wrong and not something a person should do, regardless of party or politics.

The aide assessed that while first-term lawmakers attack opponents with a purpose of consolidating their political standing, Lee seems to be a person who habitually disparages others for the sake of "fun" alone. The aide said he showed a tendency to enjoy talking behind others' backs.