Kim Yong, a candidate for the Supreme Council of the Democratic Party of Korea, called on the YouTube channel "Park Si-young TV" on the 8th through his social media to apologize and to immediately edit and delete the video in question, related to the recent photo controversy. He also demanded that party leadership candidate Jeong Cheong-rae directly explain the situation on site.

Candidate Kim posted a piece titled "Jeong Cheong-rae Was Cropped Out, While the President Was Linked to Shincheonji." He claimed that Park Si-young TV broadcasted a photo that made it appear as though President Lee Jae-myung and Lee Hee-ja, head of the Korea Right-Wing Federation, met alone, arguing that this single fabricated photo created a malicious narrative connecting candidate Jeong to Shincheonji and, further, entangling President Lee Jae-myung.

He pointed out that in the original photo, candidate Jeong was clearly present next to Lee Hee-ja but was intentionally cropped out. Candidate Kim noted that the location in the photo was Mapo-gu, candidate Jeong's constituency, and raised the possibility that it was Jeong himself who introduced Lee to the President at that event. He asked, "Who was it that introduced Lee Hee-ja to the President at that gathering? Did they use the President as a shield while erasing their own presence?"

He went on to demand the source be revealed, asking, "Who cropped that photo, and who provided it?" Candidate Kim strongly criticized Park Si-young TV's attitude of neither taking down nor editing the video without an apology, even after the original photo was revealed, exposing the fabrication. He called this behavior a betrayal of the minimum ethics and qualifications required of broadcasting, adding that party members and the public would never tolerate such conduct of knowingly leaving falsehoods uncorrected.

Meanwhile, regarding allegations of collusion between the political sphere and Shincheonji, the joint prosecution and police investigation team summoned Lee Hee-ja on the 16th of last month on suspicion of violating the Political Funds Act. The investigative team is focusing on the source of funds that Lee donated—500 million won each annually—to former People Power Party lawmakers Kwon Seong-dong and Park Seong-jung from 2022 to 2024, and is also investigating the possibility that Shincheonji funds were used for these donations.

The relationship between Lee, who is at the center of the controversy, and candidate Jeong is also being re-examined. According to OhmyNews, candidate Jeong attended the "Nobel Road Naming Ceremony" held in Mapo-gu, Seoul, in 2019 as a former local lawmaker and took a commemorative photo with Lee. A photo from March 2024 also exists showing Lee Jae-myung, then leader of the Democratic Party, Representative Jeong Cheong-rae, and Lee together at a restaurant in Mapo-gu.

In this regard, Lee emphasized in an interview with OhmyNews that candidate Jeong's attendance at the event was at the level of a local event and was unrelated to Shincheonji. She also drew a clear line, stating that she had never dined with candidate Jeong nor donated political funds to him.