Gyeonggi governor denounces police for accusing wife of Twitter libel

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung criticized police Monday, after they announced his wife as the owner of a Twitter account that spread false rumors about his political opponents.

In a press conference Monday, Lee denounced police as lacking in judgment in pointing to his wife, Kim Hye-gyeong, as the owner of the “Hyegyeonggung Ms. Kim” Twitter account. 

Police began investigating the case after thousands of posts spreading false information about Lee’s political rivals, including President Moon Jae-in, were posted via the account.

“The Twitter account owner, and the person who wrote the posts, is not my wife. I do not want my innocent wife to be involved in this (political) fight,” Lee said at a press conference at Gyeonggi Provincial Government.

“There is more than enough evidence that my wife is not (the account owner), but the police gathered a couple of things and targeted my wife.”

In the course of the investigation that kicked off in April, ahead of the June 13 local elections, police raided the offices of Lee and called in Kim twice for questioning. Concluding Kim was the owner of the Twitter account, Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency on Monday sent the case to Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, seeking charges of defamation and spreading false information, without detention.

“I believe (police) chose authority over truth. If you are going to hit someone, hit me. If you are going to spit on somebody, do so on me,” Lee said. “The goal of this vulgar political attack is to stop me from working, and I will focus more on my governor’s duty in response to the political attack.”

National Police Agency Commissioner General Min Gap-ryong immediately hit back.

“(The police investigation) has been conducted thoroughly, analyzing the evidence obtained from several seizures and confiscations,” Min said in a press meeting Monday.

“Additional investigations will be conducted, including one by the prosecution. And the truth will be clarified in the process.”

As tensions between police and the lawyer-turned-governor escalate, opposition conservative parties – the Liberty Korea Party and Bareunmirae Party -- demanded an apology from Lee and called for his immediate resignation. Lee’s party, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, was more cautious in its response.

“As I have said several times before, if Kim Hye-kyung is really the owner of ‘Hyegyeonggung Ms. Kim,’ Gov. Lee will have to resign and take responsibility for deceiving so many people with lies,” Rep. Pyo Chang-won of the liberal Democratic Party said via Twitter on Saturday.

The ruling party leadership maintained they should wait for the court’s decision, and refused to comment further on the party’s position pertaining to Lee.

At an event launching a college student committee on Monday, party chairman Lee Hae-chan refused to comment when he was asked by a reporter whether the party is discussing punishing Lee or revoking his party membership.

The presidential office spokesman also drew a line, saying it is an issue for the party to decide, and does not relate to the presidential office.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)