Lee Hae-chan "Malicious People Stir Up Fake News... Provisional Postponement of the Launch of the Election Committee"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Wondara and Jeon Jinyoung] The Democratic Party of Korea has temporarily postponed the launch of its election campaign committee to respond to the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia). Party leader Lee criticized the ongoing fake news related to the novel coronavirus, saying, "Malicious people are inciting fake news."

Lee Hae-chan, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said at an expanded executive meeting held at the National Assembly on the morning of the 31st, "Elections are important, but responding to the virus is more important," adding, "We planned to launch the election campaign committee this week, but we will postpone it temporarily." He added, "I think it is right to postpone the launch of the campaign committee and manage the situation until this situation calms down." The Democratic Party originally planned to launch the 'general election headquarters,' the election campaign committee, on this day.

Lee said, "Since the first secondary infection case occurred and public anxiety has begun to affect the economy, it is now time to mobilize all capabilities not only from the government and medical community but from all sectors." He continued, "Fortunately, the secondary infection case was a worker at a public health center, so it is still difficult to say that the virus has spread widely overall," emphasizing, "We must do our utmost to prevent the overall spread of the novel coronavirus."

He also urged cooperation from the political sphere. Lee said, "Malicious people are inciting fake news and hatred and only looking for opportunities for political strife," adding, "This is not the time to use a national disaster for political conflict." He continued, "We should immediately declare a halt to political strife and start a top-level special committee to establish measures against the novel coronavirus," stating, "The Democratic Party will hold the first meeting of the special committee on novel coronavirus measures today to review prevention measures. We will also hold party-government consultations to find ways to respond."

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party clarified that Lee's statement that "the secondary infection case was a public health center worker" was "a mistake due to misunderstanding."

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