The wife of main opposition People Power Party(PPP) presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol suggested that MeToo scandals occurred because victims were not paid.
Kim Keon-hee was heard making the remark during phone talks with a reporter for a YouTube channel. The reporter reportedly recorded seven hour-long telephone conversations with Kim between July and December last year.
MBC aired part of the recorded calls on Sunday after a local court partially adopted an injunction filed by Kim against MBC.
According to the recordings, Kim said she felt sorry for An Hee-jung, the former South Chungcheong Province governor who is in prison for sexual assualt. Kim said that conservatives make sure they pay and that's why they don't have many MeToo scandals.
She also proposed that the reporter join Yoon's election camp, saying that they could pay him 100 million won. Regarding former chief of Yoon's election committee Kim Chong-in, Kim said that he had wanted to join the camp.
After the MBC report, Kim sent a written notice to MBC and claimed that she was not involved in Yoon's political activities and his election camp.
Kim offered apology for her remarks on MeToo scandals, saying that she made "inappropriate" remarks while criticizing some liberal figures who sexually abused others.