Tak Hyun-min Criticizes "Does Lee Jun-seok Not Understand Presidential Duties? Both Temperament and Competence Must Improve Gradually"

Lee Jun-seok, then the Supreme Council member of the United Future Party, is entering a closed Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on April 22 last year. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] Tak Hyun-min, the Blue House Protocol Secretary, criticized former United Future Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok, who mocked President Moon Jae-in as an "11-year experienced farmer," saying, "Since the apology in 2012, nothing has easily changed."

On the afternoon of the 13th, Secretary Tak posted on his social networking service (SNS), "Repeated mistakes become a way of life as time passes," and added, "I believe curiosity about the president's private residence was resolved through the Blue House's kind explanation, but seeing the attached unnecessary remarks, perhaps that wasn't the real curiosity."

Secretary Tak expressed his discomfort by referring to former Supreme Council member Lee as "Lee Jun-seok-kun."

He continued, "Perhaps Lee Jun-seok-kun does not know what the president's duties are," and pointed out, "He said if there was a president wearing a straw hat, it would have been promoted, so why wasn't it used? But the president personally oversees vaccine inoculation sites and vaccine transportation inspections, while a straw hat president would not need to do so. The former is for the people, and the latter is for oneself."

He added, "If he still doesn't understand the difference between these two, honestly, while I feel relieved that he doesn't know, I am more worried. People who want to engage in politics should know at least this much for the sake of the nation and its people."

Secretary Tak said, "A person's temperament and ability should improve little by little. Anyway, I have been entrusted with an unexpected responsibility and am doing my best to conclude this chapter," and continued, "In the future, someone else will be given such a call and role. It might be Lee Jun-seok-kun. When that time comes, will he understand? Serving the people and being responsible for public duties, regardless of the scale of the work, means enduring oneself, enduring factions, and enduring politics."

Finally, he added, "Whoever comes next, whoever comes after us, I write this hoping they will be better. If they don't understand this either, there is no way."

President Moon Jae-in criticized the opposition party on the 12th for raising various suspicions regarding the site of his private residence in Yangsan, Gyeongnam, calling it a "petty and embarrassing matter" and saying, "I understand it is election season, but please keep it to that extent." This unusually strong tone, compared to President Moon's usual manner of speaking, has drawn attention.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, President Moon Jae-in showed discomfort regarding the opposition's continuous allegations about the private residence site in Yangsan, Gyeongnam, through SNS the previous day. President Moon said, "I understand it's election season, but please stop at that. It's petty and embarrassing."

In response, former Supreme Council member Lee sarcastically replied, "I am embarrassed too. President, an 11-year experienced farmer," and added, "The reason I don't believe you farmed is that if you had farmed wearing a straw hat, Tak Hyun-min or anyone would have surely used it for promotion several times," and "In a situation where vaccine transportation drills and vaccine inoculation observations are promoted, all our people know the Blue House well, and know Tak well," mocking again.

Meanwhile, former Supreme Council member Lee had previously faced backlash for sharing a cartoon on SNS depicting the beheading of candidate Moon Jae-in during the 2012 presidential election and later apologized directly to candidate Moon.

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