Allegations Raised Over Democratic Party's Buyeo County Mayor Candidate

Chungnam Provincial Assembly member Kim Ki-seo and Buyeo County Council member Kim Ki-il held a press conference on the 24th, raising allegations regarding Democratic Party Buyeo County Mayor candidate Kim Min-soo. However, it has been confirmed that these allegations were intertwined with informant A's building sale issue.

According to the obtained transcript of the audio recording, informant A, during a meeting with the two assembly members, first raised the issue of selling the store he operates before bringing up the allegations. "My condition is that you sell this store first," A stated, demanding the building, listed for 480 million won, be sold for even 400 million won. He added, "Once the store is sold, I will do everything I can. If this matter is settled, I can pursue the Kim Min-soo issue to the end and move on." This essentially presented the public disclosure of allegations as a condition for the building sale to be realized.

The two assembly members responded to A's request, discussing ways to help sell the building. Assembly member Kim Ki-seo promised, "I will bring an alternative for the store issue tomorrow," and outlined the public disclosure process, stating, "First, settle the store, and second, the media needs to break it loudly." County Council member Kim Ki-il also discussed the timeline for the building sale, saying, "The 20th is difficult, but around the end of this month.".

Even in a subsequent conversation between the two assembly members after A left, discussions about verifying the truth of the allegations were mixed with talks about the timing of the public disclosure. Kim Ki-seo remarked, "We need to strike quickly. We can't drag this out. We also need to consider how much we can trust this..." The disclosure proceeded without the core parties involved being properly verified.

Before the press conference, the spouse of informant A, identified as a party affected by the allegations, directly contacted the two assembly members to state that the reported claims were untrue and indicated legal action if the matter escalated. Despite this, the two assembly members proceeded with a press conference at the Buyeo County Office on March 24th, even revealing the informant's name and publicizing the allegations. At the time, when asked about any conflict of interest with the informant, Kim Ki-seo stated, "There is no conflict of interest," but the audio transcript reveals a different context, showing the building sale issue being discussed before the allegations were explained.

Currently, both parties are engaged in legal action against each other. The key legal issues that remain are the path and judgment process that led the initial tip-off to be made public, and the verification upon which the two assembly members based their claims of raising an issue of public interest.