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Myung Tae-kyun, a major figure in suspicions of first lady Kim Keon-hee’s alleged meddling in election nominations. (from Myung’s Facebook profile)

Myung Tae-kyun, a figure who claims to have ties with first lady Kim Keon-hee and her alleged interference in nominating candidates for election, seems to have manipulated public polls ahead of the People Power Party (PPP)’s presidential primary in November 2021 to favor Yoon Suk-yeol. This is what was revealed by a phone conversation Myung had with an employee of a research center he used to run. The conversation was made public on Tuesday. 

The recorded audio of the conversation was leaked to the press by Kang Hye-kyeong, an employee of the polling organization at the time (who later became the chief accountant of former lawmaker Kim Young-sun after the 2022 Changwon by-election in South Gyeongsang Province). 

In the conversation, Myung orders her to manipulate the results of an unofficial poll that hadn’t been publicized. Myung tells Kang to inflate the numbers of Yoon supporters in a specific age bracket and then reflect those inflated numbers in the published poll results. The conversation took place on Sept. 29, 2021, at 4:50 pm.

“Make sure Yoon’s numbers come out around 2% higher than Hong Joon-pyo’s,” Myung said.

“You know, the younger respondents. Increase the number of Yoon supporters in that age bracket. We need to make it look like Yoon is 2%-3% ahead of Hong,” Myung can be heard saying. 

The conversation between Myung and Kang is enough to suspect that the Myung’s organization inflated certain poll numbers under the objective of favoring one candidate over another. If Myung’s orders were carried out, such an action would constitute “data manipulation,” going beyond the parameters of “acceptable revisions or compensation” in public opinion polling.  

The phone call took place right before the first round of the PPP presidential primaries on Sept. 15, 2021, which reduced the pool of candidates to eight potential nominees for. The candidates who passed the second round were announced on Oct. 8. Kang’s claims coincide with those of Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, who has said that polls were manipulated to alter opinions within the party ahead of the presidential primaries. The recent revelation has given new weight to Hong’s claims. 

Myung, who is being called a “scam artist” while facing threats of legal action by key insiders within the ruling party, has publicized a KakaoTalk conversation he had with first lady Kim Keon-hee ahead of the presidential election. Myung’s actions are essentially a warning to ruling party elites that he can continue to expose them should they deny their connections with Myung and slander him.

According to a screenshot of the KakaoTalk conversation posted on Myung’s Facebook page, Myung tells the first lady: “I’ll have an answer after I talk to [Lee] Jun-seok tomorrow. I’ll contact you then.” The first lady then answers: “Please forgive my oppa for childishly running his mouth like that. I’m embarrassed.” She then added, “That’s how people are when they’re ignorant. I apologize.” 

“I’m completely reliant on you right now,” she told Myung. 

The conversation seems to have taken place ahead of the 2022 presidential election. There is no consensus on whom Kim is referring to when she says “oppa,” a designation that women use for both their older male siblings and older male acquaintances. Is it President Yoon Suk-yeol or Kim’s older brother?

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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