Jeong Cheong-rae Criticizes Joo Ho-young for Reaching Out to Ahn Cheol-soo as a "Foolish Political Act Worse Than Doing Nothing"

Joo Ho-young: "Seoul Mayor and Presidential Election, It Helps If United with Ahn Cheol-soo"

Jeong Cheong-rae, Democratic Party of Korea member. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suwan] Regarding Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, advocating for a unified opposition primary in next year's Seoul mayoral by-election and sending a 'love call' to Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, Rep. Jung Cheong-rae of the Democratic Party criticized it as a "foolish political act worse than doing nothing."

On the 27th, Rep. Jung wrote on his Facebook, "No matter how politically insensitive Leader Ahn is, would he accept this proposal unless he is a fool?" and pointed out, "In short, it sounds like saying 'come into the United Future Party and compete in the primary,' but one should speak properly."

Rep. Jung said, "This is an uncomfortable proposal that only irritates Leader Ahn, who is quietly staying put. If you want to make a proposal, you should do it secretly; where is the precedent for doing it so openly like this?" He added, "Suggesting a unified primary means telling Leader Ahn, who has no chance of winning the primary, 'You just come in and be a cheerleader,' which is an insult to Ahn Cheol-soo, who still dreams big of a comeback."

He continued, "Elections are a battle of momentum. But Floor Leader Joo has already declared a preemptive surrender by saying 'United Future Party alone won’t do, so I will drag in Leader Ahn to win,' which is like admitting defeat."

Regarding Floor Leader Joo distancing himself from some participants of the 'August 15 Liberation Day Commemoration Rally condemning the Moon Jae-in government,' Rep. Jung said, "Floor Leader Joo is trying to distance himself from far-right forces. He says 'We have nothing to do with far-right figures like Jeon Kwang-hoon,'" and added, "Because of this, he is receiving a flood of complaints from them accusing him of lacking loyalty."

He then criticized Floor Leader Joo, saying, "Unable to apologize, he loses both the healthy conservative forces and the far-right forces for failing to keep loyalty, ending up like a traveler caught in the rain at dusk, losing both pheasants and hawks, unable to do anything or go anywhere."

Rep. Jung added, "Seeing Floor Leader Joo trying such a shallow trick to drag in Leader Ahn in this situation makes me want to comfort his rather pitiful state," and said, "He must be very depressed, but maybe he will be satisfied with the rise in his Gangnam apartment price."

Meanwhile, in an interview on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae’s Focus' on the same day, Floor Leader Joo said regarding the plan for a unified conservative candidate for Seoul mayor, "If Leader Ahn holds a unified primary with us, whether for Seoul mayor or the presidential election, combining his independent support base with our party’s supporters will create greater expansion and be much more helpful in the election," and added, "We have repeatedly expressed that we can always work together, and now the choice seems to be up to Leader Ahn."

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