Opposition Parties and Park Young-sun Jointly Criticize Luncheon Supporting Yoon Geon-young

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Criticism from opposition parties is emerging regarding the luncheon held on December 25 last year between Yoon Geon-young, Director of the Presidential Office for National Policy Planning who resigned to run in the April 15 general election, Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and the Guro District Mayor and city and district council members. There are concerns that this could constitute a violation of election laws, as Yoon is likely to run in Guro, Park’s electoral district.

Hwang Gyu-hwan, deputy spokesperson of the Liberty Korea Party, strongly criticized the meeting in a statement on the 8th, calling it a "personal tutoring session by a sitting minister for the general election." Hwang said, "At a time when security threats were escalating due to North Korea’s 'Christmas gift,' the director of the situation room, who should be preparing for contingencies, went down to the expected electoral district, had lunch with local politicians, and even visited a church to greet people." He added, "The minister, who tearfully declared she would not run in public, was secretly focused on personal tutoring to hand over her district to a pro-Moon (Moon Jae-in) figure."

Hwang further stated, "This is the current state of this administration, which has abandoned national governance and is solely obsessed with the general election." He pointed out, "If the sitting minister, who has the duty of election neutrality, requested help for Director Yoon from the district mayor and metropolitan and basic council members present or exerted pressure, it would obviously be a violation of election laws."

Kwon Seong-ju, spokesperson for the New Conservative Party, also said, "In the midst of the worst economic crisis, the Minister of SMEs and Startups should not have such leisure, but Minister Park is fully engaged in supporting 'the President’s man,' Director Yoon," and asked, "Is public office for politician Park Young-sun just a decoration for distractions?"

Kwon urged, "At a time when public outrage is rising over the Blue House’s interference in the Ulsan mayoral election, I hope the Election Commission conducts a thorough investigation to prevent any further shameless illegal election involvement by a sitting minister."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.