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'Broker' Myung Tae-kyun summoned by special counsel over alleged election meddling

Published: 31 Jul. 2025, 11:41 Updated: 31 Jul. 2025, 17:07

Myung Tae-kyun, a political broker accused of involvement in an election-meddling scheme, arrives at the special counsel’s office in Jongno District, central Seoul, on July 31 to be questioned as a suspect on bribery charges. [YONHAP]

The special counsel team investigating allegations surrounding former first lady Kim Keon Hee has summoned Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed political broker believed to be a central figure in an alleged election-meddling scheme.

Myung appeared at the office of special counsel Min Joong-ki in the KT Gwanghwamun Building in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Thursday morning. He was summoned as a suspect on charges of offering bribes. The special counsel is expected to question him over two days on how former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife allegedly intervened in nomination processes.

Before entering the office, Myung told reporters, “Today and tomorrow, I also want to find out what the truth is.”

Myung is accused of conducting 81 illegal opinion polls for Yoon during the 2022 presidential election. In return, Yoon and his wife allegedly exerted influence to ensure that Kim Young-sun, a former lawmaker for the People Power Party (PPP), secured a nomination in a June 1 by-election that year.

A recording made public reveals Yoon telling Myung on May 9, 2022, the day before the PPP announced its by-election candidates, “I’ve been helping Kim Young-sun since the primaries, so I asked them to support her, but there’s been a lot of pushback in the party,” and adding, “Since [Rep.] Yoon Sang-hyun is the nomination committee chair, I’ll talk to him again.”

Rep. Yoon, who was summoned by the special counsel team last Sunday as a suspect on obstruction of business charges, acknowledged in questioning that he spoke to the former president around May 9, 2022, about Kim’s candidacy. While he admitted to the phone call, he said there was no concrete action taken to support her nomination.

Myung is also linked to a separate allegation concerning the April 10 general election last year, in which Kim Keon Hee allegedly pushed for former prosecutor Kim Sang-min to run in Changwon’s Uichang District — the same constituency where Kim Young-sun had previously run.

Myung, who backed Kim Young-sun in that race, claims Kim Keon Hee told him to support Kim Sang-min’s candidacy and allegedly promised that “a ministerial post or the presidency of a state-run company” would be offered in return after the election.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY KIM JI-HYE [[email protected]]