Seoul: President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday lambasted a conservative YouTube channel for airing slush fund accusations against him, calling it "pathetic" and "malicious." The reaction came after the YouTube channel run by Jeon Han-gil, a former Korean history instructor and now a vocal supporter of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, aired an interview with a man making the allegations.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the man in the interview argued that Lee is preparing to flee to China and recently transferred 160 trillion won (US$106.5 billion) and military secrets to Chinese authorities in Singapore. "Secret slush funds and leaking national military information? This is truly pathetic and malicious matador. It must be severely punished," Lee wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Lee made his remarks by citing a post by Rep. Han Jun-ho of the ruling Democratic Party, who criticized Jeon's video and urged investigative authorities to step in immediately. In the YouTube interview, the man claimed that U.S. intelligence operatives have figured everything out, but offered no concrete evidence to support the statement.