Jeong Cheong-rae: "Opposition, Keep Talking About the Korea-Japan Undersea Tunnel... We Will Win"

Jeong Cheong-rae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the Education Committee plenary meeting held at the National Assembly on December 4 last year.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Soyoung] As political disputes intensify over the construction of the Busan Japan-Korea Undersea Tunnel, Jeong Cheong-rae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, claimed that the more the Japan-Korea Undersea Tunnel is discussed, the more advantageous it is for the Democratic Party.

On the 9th, Jeong posted a brief message summarizing his remarks on tbs's 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' on his Facebook. The main content was his views on the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections.

Regarding the Seoul mayoral race, he said, "For the first time in a while, Kim Jong-in's strategy of ignoring Ahn Cheol-soo is working," adding, "It is giving time for Ahn Cheol-soo's bubble to burst." He also evaluated, "Na Kyung-won is on the rise, Oh Se-hoon is on the decline."

He then commented on the Japan-Korea Undersea Tunnel, saying, "Keep talking about the Japan-Korea Undersea Tunnel. Then it becomes a Korea-Japan match," and expressed confidence by saying, "We will win the Korea-Japan match." The construction of the Japan-Korea Undersea Tunnel is a pledge promoted by the People Power Party for the Busan mayoral by-election. On the other hand, the Democratic Party criticizes it as an "extreme right-wing claim."

Meanwhile, on the same day (the 9th), the Democratic Party, coinciding with the party leadership's visit to Busan, repeatedly condemned the People Power Party's Kim Jong-in's 'Japan-Korea Undersea Tunnel' pledge as an "extreme right-wing claim."

Choi In-ho, the senior spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said at a meeting with reporters that morning, "Kim Jong-in continues to talk about the extreme right-wing Japan-Korea Undersea Tunnel claim even this week, and it must be immediately withdrawn," adding, "The world's longest undersea tunnel, the Seikan Undersea Tunnel in Japan, which is 52 kilometers long, took 24 years to complete, but the Japan-Korea Undersea Tunnel, which is more than four times longer, is likely to take 100 years. We must no longer force the citizens of Busan to endure 100 years of false hope."

He continued, "As I have repeatedly said, the Japan-Korea Undersea Tunnel is decisively advantageous only to Japan," and added, "Japan has shown a lukewarm reaction, not particularly welcoming it. Persisting with the Japan-Korea Undersea Tunnel pledge ahead of the election is disrespectful to the citizens of Busan. The pledge should be immediately withdrawn, and a sincere apology should be made to the citizens of Busan for the excessive promises."

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