Lee Jong-won Dismisses 'Opinion Poll Manipulation' Allegations: 'Ignore It'... Evidence Revealed to Be Manipulated Broadcast Time

New 탐사 reported yesterday that almost all evidence had emerged regarding Lee Jong-won's alleged manipulation of public opinion polls. After this report, many viewers who anticipated negative content about New 탐사 from Sisatapa provided New 탐사 with a lot of information. We were curious what kind of explanation or rebuttal Lee Jong-won would offer, but given the clear evidence, there seemed to be no room for excuses. Lee Jong-won also hosted a broadcast at almost the same time as New 탐사's report.

Lee Jong-won was gaining momentum by using manipulated comments that criticized CEO Lee Jae-myung. Sisatapa supporters were taking New 탐사's report seriously, and Lee Jong-won instructed them to 'stop all that useless stuff.' However, his remarks contained no specific rebuttal to New 탐사's report; he merely showed a strong attitude. At the time, Lee Jong-won did not seem to have accurately grasped the content of New 탐사's broadcast.

Lee Jong-won criticized New 탐사, calling them 'ignorant' and 'bastards who don't even know why opinion polls are important in elections.' He compared New 탐사's reporting team to 'Shincheonji' and continued his aggressive remarks, interspersed with expletives like 'son of a bitch.' He also claimed that while New 탐사 was 'making a fuss,' they (his side) were focused on 'how to win.' These remarks appear to be an emotional response without any substantive rebuttal to New 탐사's report. He evaluated New 탐사 as 'pathetic,' revealing his sense of superiority.

Lee Jong-won criticized New 탐사, calling them 'shameless like the National Power Party bastards,' and claimed they 'would have deleted their channel and fled if they were sane.' He disparaged New 탐사's report as 'utterly uninfluential' and urged his supporters not to report or pay attention to it. He also warned that all of New 탐사's data would be 'used in court.' However, Lee Jong-won himself failed to offer any explanation for the content of New 탐사's report, specifically the part about his real-time poll manipulation.

Lee Jong-won claimed that New 탐사's report was 'utterly uninfluential,' and mentioned that 'there was indeed such an aspect during Jeong Cheong-rae's party leadership.' This led to criticism that he is still stuck in the 'Jeong Cheong-rae timezone' and unaware of the changes in the era of newly emerging CEO Kim Min-seok. Regarding New 탐사's report, he said, 'Who cares? We can just ignore it and move on,' drawing criticism for his lack of understanding of the current reality.

It was mentioned that Lee Jong-won, who was stuck in the 'Jeong Cheong-rae timezone,' was having trouble adjusting to the 'Kim Min-seok timezone.' New 탐사 criticized Lee Jong-won as 'shameless,' but is now asking 'who is truly shameless.' Lee Jong-won's remark that 'all data will be used in court' ironically made his own words likely to be submitted as evidence. In particular, his statement, 'those who don't know the importance of opinion polls, those who haven't even run an election,' could be interpreted as a motive for a crime related to poll manipulation, and this remark could be very disadvantageous to him in future trials.

Lee Jong-won's remarks suggest that he himself knew the importance of opinion polls in an election and planned specific actions using them. This clarifies his criminal motive and could be an important factor in sentencing later. Especially since he himself clearly stated that the purpose of the crime was 'to obstruct the election and get the candidate he wanted elected,' this remark is highly likely to be used as very important evidence in future trials. These 'outrageous remarks' appear to have come out in a state of maladjustment to the time difference and could ultimately boomerang back to him.

Lee Jong-won's remarks were criticized as being similar to former President Lee Myung-bak's 'out-of-body rhetoric,' as they were made without realizing they would backfire. New 탐사 directly questioned Lee Jong-won via text message. The questions were: 'Whose idea was it to conduct a live broadcast instructing people to 'sensibly change their regional and age demographics in national opinion polls' to respond?' and 'Was Jeong Cheong-rae's side aware of this fact?' However, Lee Jong-won repeatedly talked about luxury goods, avoiding the core issue.

Lee Jong-won kept repeating stories related to luxury goods in response to New 탐사's questions. New 탐사 sarcastically said that Lee Jong-won 'worked hard to shield the presidential case,' but then pointed out that he was making a wrong judgment. New 탐사 warned Lee Jong-won, 'You're going to jail,' and offered to provide the case number of a similar incident where a person received a prison sentence for obstruction of business. This emphasizes that Lee Jong-won seemed to be trying to avoid his unfavorable situation. In this situation, Lee Jong-won gave a crucial answer.

Lee Jong-won claimed that his poll manipulation idea came from the 'Jenmaul Kim Min-seok Supporters' bulletin board, shifting responsibility. He specifically mentioned 'Jenmaul bulletin board idea' and demanded it be introduced. New 탐사 found that the 'National Poll Precautions for Lee Jae-myung's Village Political Bulletin Board' post that Lee Jong-won screenshotted and uploaded had already been deleted. New 탐사 judged that this post itself was problematic, but less severe than Lee Jong-won's actions.

The post that Lee Jong-won screenshotted and uploaded to the 'Jae-myung-in's Village' political bulletin board, titled 'National Poll Precautions: Respond and Vote-Ineligible Regions, Ages,' is currently not searchable. The post included content such as 'Vote impossible if responding with sample input finalized as of 11:44 AM on the 15th.' For example, it appears that 'Jae-myung-in's Village' members shared information that specific regions and age groups, like 'Incheon women in their 50s,' had reached their quota and could no longer respond. This content had some similarities to Lee Jong-won's intentions.

The 'Jae-myung-in's Village' post, which Lee Jong-won claimed to have referenced, did not directly instruct people to lie about their region, gender, or age. Furthermore, it did not include remarks such as using multiple cell phones or filling empty quotas in specific regions. Although this post could also be seen as inappropriate, it was ambiguous enough not to lead to obstruction of business. Crucially, this post was confirmed to have been published on August 15, 2026, at 8:56 AM. However, Lee Jong-won's poll manipulation broadcast had already taken place on August 14, prior to that.

Lee Jong-won claimed to have gotten his broadcast idea from the Jenmaul post uploaded on August 15, 8:56 AM. However, his poll manipulation incitement broadcast had already taken place on August 14. This is like lying that he 'knew about and adopted a post that happened in the future.' New 탐사 pointed out that Lee Jong-won seemed to be in a different timezone for 'Cheong-rae' and 'South Korea,' and that he lied when cornered without even properly checking the date.

Lee Jong-won's claim was revealed to be a lie, as if he had predicted and adopted events that would happen in the future, like in the drama 'Signal.' New 탐사 suggested that Lee Jong-won seemed to have been too hasty to even properly check the date. In any case, it was emphasized that claiming to have gotten the idea from that bulletin board and broadcasting it was not true and was a clear lie. New 탐사 then warned, 'If you introduce this, you'll be sued again,' refuting Lee Jong-won's claim of false reporting.

When New 탐사 directly asked Lee Jong-won, 'Is it okay if I break the law just because Jenmaul members do?', Lee Jong-won again acted 'tough' and continued his 'nonsense.' He suddenly brought up Shincheonji and CEO Kim Min-seok, avoiding the main point of the question. New 탐사 judged Lee Jong-won's response as meaningless and continued to ask core questions. However, Lee Jong-won repeatedly talked off-topic, ignoring the questions.

New 탐사 hit the nail on the head, asking Lee Jong-won, 'The Jenmaul post was dated August 15th, but you started broadcasting on August 14th, didn't you?' In response to this question, Lee Jong-won should have admitted that his claim of getting the idea from Jenmaul was false, but he couldn't answer clearly. He tried another excuse, saying, 'There's other evidence besides that,' but couldn't provide specific evidence. This shows that he was aware that his claim was false.

When his date manipulation was exposed, Lee Jong-won showed a stung reaction to the criticism of 'manipulated broadcast.' He thought for about a minute in response to New 탐사's question, then typed furiously. As New 탐사 continued to ask core questions, Lee Jong-won suddenly stopped the conversation, saying he 'had to prepare for his broadcast.' This was a completely different attitude from his previous willingness to answer questions late into the night, and appeared to be evasive behavior when cornered.

Lee Jong-won said, 'I need to prepare for my broadcast. I'll see you later,' and unilaterally ended the conversation as if declaring an 'armistice.' New 탐사 then asked an important question: 'You claimed over 200 people voted after watching your broadcast; wasn't that an exaggeration?' This question contained information that could be very crucial for future statements to investigative agencies. However, Lee Jong-won remained silent from this question onward, not answering at all. This suggests that he acknowledged he no longer had a logical rebuttal.