President Moon: "Regret the Victim's Suffering in Park Won-soon Case... Respect Party Members' Will in Democratic Party Nomination"

2021 New Year's Press Conference

On the 18th, citizens are watching the live broadcast of President Moon Jae-in's New Year's press conference in the Seoul Station waiting room. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] President Moon Jae-in on the 18th addressed the sexual misconduct scandal involving the late former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, saying, "I deeply regret the victim's suffering, and I also feel sorrow over the so-called 'secondary damage' that occurred during the subsequent controversies."

At a New Year's press conference held both online and offline at the Blue House Chunghwacang earlier that morning, President Moon stated, "I also regret why former Mayor Park acted in such a way and why he made such an extreme choice."

However, regarding the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's decision to nominate a candidate for the upcoming Seoul mayoral by-election in April, he said, "I respect the choices of the Democratic Party and its members."

In the past, when he served as the leader of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (the predecessor of the Democratic Party) in 2015, President Moon established a rule as part of political reform that the party would not nominate candidates in by-elections caused by the fault of party-affiliated local government heads. However, the Democratic Party recently reversed this stance and amended the party constitution to allow nominations in the upcoming Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections.

There is also an interpretation that if Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups and a strong contender for the next Seoul mayor, resigns to register as a candidate, President Moon would effectively support the party's nomination.

When asked about this, President Moon responded with a fundamental explanation, saying, "Just because it is a party constitution created during my leadership does not mean it is sacred," and added, "Just as the constitution can be amended by the will of the people, the party constitution cannot be immutable."

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