Aoi Kururugi reveals Gambling Scandal Swirls for South Korean Presidential Frontrunner Lee Jae-myung’s Son on Eve of Election

Aoi Kururugi: Gambling is bad, bad, bad… Come see Mama Aoi toget rid of the bad habit

Gambling Scandal Swirls for South Korean Presidential Frontrunner’s Son on Eve of Election

The gambling habits of Lee Dong-ho, the son of the South Korean presidential frontrunner Lee Jae-myung, remain in the public spotlight on the eve of tomorrow’s elections.

South Korea goes to the ballot box to choose its next President on June 3. Lee Jae-myung, of the Democratic Party (DP), has a lead of between 9% and 12% ahead of his closest rivals in most opinion polls.

However, political rivals are calling for a public inquiry into the frontrunner and his 28-year-old son Lee Dong-ho.

The ruling People Power Party has created a unit named the “Lee Jae-myung Family Corruption Investigation Team.” The team says it will reveal the truth about Lee Dong-ho’s gambling habits.

South Korean Presidential Frontrunner: Gambling Controversy Continues
Lee Dong-ho, critics claim, has been unemployed for several years. Rivals claim this has not stopped the younger Lee from allegedly spending vast sums of money on online gambling sites.

Per Lee Jae-myung’s most recent financial declarations, Lee Dong-ho’s total assets are worth just over $2,800.

The PPP plans to file a complaint with the prosecution service. It has linked the younger Lee to “illegal gambling funds” worth some $168,550.

The ruling party says the funds are “suspicious.” It complained that the elder Lee and his wife Kim Hye-kyung have remained silent about the matter.

The media outlet New Daily quoted Gyeonggi Provincial Government officials as stating that they drove Lee Dong-ho home from hospital in an official vehicle in June 2021. The officials also say they handled his discharge process. At the time, Lee Jae-myung was serving as the Governor of Gyeonggi Province.

During this period, Lee Dong-ho allegedly continued to gamble, spending around $4,850 on illegal gambling sites.

The officials provided screenshots of Telegram group chat conversations as proof of the veracity of their claims.

Prosecutors think Lee Dong-ho gambled on illegal sites while in the hospital and immediately after his discharge.

Critics claim that Lee Jae-myung and his wife allowed their son to misuse public resources, while the latter repeatedly broke the law.

The ruling party says it will report the trio to the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office. It accused the Lee family of violating tax law, money laundering regulations, and public election rules.

Tax Evasion Claims

Per Chosun Biz, the PPP lawmaker Joo Jin-woo said: “If a person uses their parents’ money to gamble, this may constitute a gift tax evasion violation. If the money was a gift, questions arise about where the cash came from. There is no explanation of when, where, and how the gift was made, or what the source of these funds was.”

The leading candidates for June 3’s South Korean Presidential Elections (from left: Lee Jae-myung (Democratic Party); Kim Moon-soo (People Power Party); Lee Jun-seok (Reform Party).

In late October last year, a branch of the Suwon District Court found Lee Dong-ho guilty of habitual gambling and violations of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (the distribution of obscene materials).

The court ordered the younger Lee to pay a 5 million KRW ($3,635) fine. Court documents list Lee Dong-ho’s occupation as “unemployed.”

A PPP lawmaker told New Daily: “The candidate’s family must have an enormous sense of privilege. They thought it was natural for a 28-year-old man to be ferried around [in public vehicles] and gamble illegally right after being discharged.”