Hong Jun-pyo "I trusted Na Dong-yeon and came down to Yangsan... but now people are scary"

Hong Joon-pyo, former leader of the Liberty Korea Party / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Former Liberty Korea Party leader Hong Joon-pyo said on the 4th, "Even if it means giving up the election, I will correct the wrong political behavior," adding, "After experiencing the case of former Yangsan Mayor Na Dong-yeon, I am now afraid of people."

On the same day, Hong posted on his Facebook, "When I left my hometown and moved to the difficult electoral district of Yangsan-eul in Gyeongnam, the reason behind that decision was partly because Kim Hyung-o, the Future United Party's nomination committee chairman, came down to Miryang and strongly insisted that I could not run in my hometown. But more importantly, since early January, I had been continuously receiving requests from former Mayor Na to run in Yangsan-eul."

He said, "Trusting only former Mayor Na, I came down to Yangsan-eul and was preparing for the Yangsan showdown with Kim Doo-kwan, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Former Mayor Na, who used to visit the office daily to discuss election strategies, suddenly stopped coming three days ago," adding, "Soon after, an additional call for applications for Yangsan-eul appeared on the party's website, and upon checking, I found out that the Nomination Committee persuaded former Mayor Na to respond to the additional call."

He continued, "At first, former Mayor Na hesitated and refused to apply, considering his relationship with me, but when it seemed there would be no by-election for Yangsan Mayor, he appeared to start considering running for the National Assembly."

Then, Hong emphasized, "(Former Mayor Na) was hesitating because of his relationship with me, but Chairman Kim called me and said, 'If you don't persuade former Mayor Na to respond to the additional call, I will cut you off (exclude you from nomination),' and told me to compete against former Mayor Na. I had no choice but to accept former Mayor Na's participation in the additional call."

He added, "Former Mayor Na had always publicly declared to the citizens of Yangsan that he would run for Yangsan Mayor if the Supreme Court ruled on the election law violation case. He even asked me to write about the unfairness of the delayed ruling on Facebook, and I wrote posts three times," adding, "When it seemed the Supreme Court ruling would not come, he suddenly shifted to running for the National Assembly."

He went on, "According to today's media reports, they say they will send me somewhere else again. It seems they have former Mayor Na in mind for the Yangsan-eul nomination, but if his actions are revealed, it will be an election that hands Yangsan-eul over to Representative Kim Doo-kwan."

He concluded, "I hope this is not true, but if I do not disclose the circumstances so far, I might be seen as a politician who only pursues personal gain. Therefore, I hope the Nomination Committee understands that I have no choice but to reveal this."

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