Lee Jun-seok: "Yoon Seok-yeol's 'Dictatorship' Remark Is a De Facto Victory Declaration... Not a Presidential Bid Announcement"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Former Future United Party Supreme Council member Lee Jun-seok drew a line against interpretations that Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol's remarks, which emphasized that "rejecting dictatorial totalitarianism is true democracy," were a declaration of his presidential bid, calling it a "de facto victory declaration."

On the 10th, Lee appeared on KBS Radio's "Kim Kyung-rae's Strongest Current Affairs" and said, "People with personalities like Prosecutor General Yoon tend to take continuous hits when being attacked but stay still, then strike back once the incident settles," explaining his view.

He added, "From Prosecutor General Yoon's perspective, regarding the investigation into Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon, he had a fierce confrontation with Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae, but since the investigation results were somewhat unsatisfactory, this was essentially a de facto victory declaration," also referencing an anecdote from former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min's time as floor leader of the Liberty Korea Party.

Lee said, "Back when Yoo was floor leader, he fought hard with the Blue House and said 'I won't step down,' but when he finally did, he stated at the press briefing room, 'The Republic of Korea is a democratic republic, and I wanted to protect that.' What that meant was, 'I've taken all the hits from you guys until now. But you bad people in the Blue House, you are not running this as a democratic republic,' and he said that as a parting shot." He explained that Yoo's declaration shares a similar nature with Prosecutor General Yoon's statement.

On the other hand, Kim Nam-guk, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, interpreted the remarks as "a protest anticipating that personnel appointments would not go as he wished, containing some political message," and said, "It was essentially a presidential candidacy declaration." In response, Lee countered, "It was not a presidential bid declaration but simply calling out the bad people for dictatorship disguised as democracy," affirming, "It is correct that he pointed fingers."

Regarding former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk's Facebook comment that the prosecution's actions were "considering impeachment," Lee said, "Just because they try to imprison former Minister Cho, does that mean impeachment will happen? That is a personal misfortune," and criticized, "How could that be connected to impeachment? Unless someone thinks 'I am the state,' they wouldn't even consider impeachment."

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