Rep. Lee Seong-yun Silent on Staff Abuse Allegations, Evades Reporters' Questions

NewsTamsa reporter Kang Jin-gu heard that Rep. Lee Seong-yun would attend a party members' meeting in Namwon at 1:30 p.m. on Friday and went to the scene to report. Kang's aim was to hear Lee's own explanation of the serious allegations of abuse against him. But Lee did not offer a single word of explanation in response to Kang's questions and walked out of the event, ignoring him throughout.

Kang repeatedly urged that the matter was very serious and needed an explanation, but Lee refused to answer and left.

Although Lee clearly heard the questions, he evaded them with an off-topic remark along the lines of "It's hot, thanks for your hard work."

NewsTamsa said Lee pretended not to hear the questions and avoided them. It explained that if the allegations were untrue, Lee should have denied them, but his failure to deny them and his off-topic answers looked like evasion.

When an aide of Rep. Lee tried to block Kang Jin-gu, Lee, who was standing behind, fell over along with him. Kang said this was an accidental physical contact that can happen in a cramped event space, and that Lee did not deliberately push him, so he did not intend to blame him.

In his speech, Rep. Lee praised candidate Jeong Chung-rae, saying that "you can tell how someone will live by looking at the trajectory of their life." He also mentioned pushing for a party member-based vote because he loves party members, and asked people to judge who truly loves the Democratic Party and its members.

NewsTamsa, however, pointed out that this remark contrasts with the abuse allegations against Lee himself. Given the abuse he is accused of inflicting on staff over the past two years, it said one can guess how he would behave as a supreme council member, and criticized the inconsistency between saying he loves party members while failing to treat the staff who serve him with personal respect.

Kang strongly criticized Lee, saying that with abuse allegations now emerging, he has no standing to talk about his own "life trajectory."

Kang Jin-gu asked Lee why seven secretaries had recently resigned together. Along with the allegation that Lee asked staff to call him by a pet name, Kang demanded an explanation for the mass resignation of secretaries, but Lee again gave no answer.

Kang Jin-gu asked Lee again: "Why did you tell your staff to call you by a pet name?" But Lee remained silent on this question too and evaded it.

The anchor said that Lee, while hearing the questions, could neither admit nor deny them, since denying them might expose a lie. The anchor added that if the allegations were untrue, Lee would have angrily denied them.

NewsTamsa argued that Lee's continued evasion can be read as an indirect admission of the allegations raised against him.

The anchor stressed that this is an essential step for fairness in reporting and for verifying facts.

Kang Jin-gu urged Lee to give a proper explanation for the group resignation of several secretaries. But as soon as Kang finished speaking, Lee quickly retreated back into the crowd of supporters.

Lee appeared to avoid the reporters' questions while being shielded by his supporters. Kang criticized Lee for refusing to directly answer the allegations and continuing to leave the scene.

Kang Jin-gu pressed Lee with questions until the end. He repeatedly asked why he threw a phone at a secretary, why he asked staff to call him by a pet name, why he sent a text saying he wanted to see them at night, and why seven secretaries left together.

Lee, however, remained silent on all of these questions and offered no explanation.

The anchor noted that Lee did not answer any of Kang Jin-gu's questions and speculated that he may have been unable to answer.

In particular, he was captured leaving with a smile at the end, which raised further doubts.

He stressed that this fact was cross-checked through fellow lawmakers and confirmed as true.

This is interpreted as pointing to serious problems within Rep. Lee's office.

Kang Jin-gu suggested that other lawmakers' offices may not have known about the problems in Rep. Lee's office, and raised the closed culture inside the National Assembly. He pointed to the reality that staff who report abuse find it hard to keep working in the Assembly.

Kang explained that because it is considered a "virtue" in this world to stay silent about the problems of the lawmaker one served, staff have kept quiet even after suffering terrible abuse.

The anchor said there are many untold incidents beneath the surface. Like the case where someone came forward using AI voice dubbing, the anchor predicted that other tips could emerge now that the departure of 30 staff from Rep. Lee's office has come to light.

The anchor stressed that even within the closed culture of National Assembly staff offices, such problems should surface, the truth should come out, and people should have the courage to ensure this never happens again, calling for improvements to Assembly culture.