Lee Jun-seok and Opposition Candidates Divided Over 'Nationwide Disaster Relief Fund'... Is the 'Leadership Risk' Becoming a Reality?

Lee Jun-seok, Leader of the People Power Party [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, who is facing controversy within the opposition over the agreement with the ruling party on the payment of 'nationwide disaster relief funds,' strongly rebutted by saying, "I want to strongly question whether taking a stance of not giving disaster relief funds ahead of the presidential election is strategically the right choice." However, Yoon Hee-sook, a presidential candidate and member of the People Power Party, targeted Lee daily, saying, "One person should not abruptly change this."

On the 14th, Lee appeared on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs' and explained the agreement reached during the meeting with Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, the previous day: "We included the perspective that compensation for small business owners' damages should take priority over consumption-stimulating disaster relief funds." He added, "At first, the media broke the news as 'agreement on nationwide disaster relief funds,' so the party's presidential candidates seemed to strongly oppose it."

He explained that the focus of this agreement was on 'expanding compensation for small business owners' damages' and that it was a kind of negotiation. Lee said, "Currently, the proportion of support for small business owners is too low," and added, "Leader Song said that about 1.2 trillion won of consumption-stimulating card cashback could be eliminated. We thought it would be better to reduce the proportion of consumption-stimulating disaster relief funds and increase support for small business owners." He further stated that after the meeting, through consultations with the party's floor leadership, they finalized and announced the plan to "maximize support for small business owners and consider paying (nationwide) disaster relief funds if there are remaining costs."

However, regarding the criticism from opposition presidential candidates that it was a "unilateral decision against the party's stance," Lee said, "I thought it was not a bad position, but the presidential candidates seem somewhat uncomfortable." He explained that the controversy arose because there are many disagreements within the party about expanding the disaster relief fund payment targets. Lee said, "Many of us (the opposition) do not even agree with the 80% ratio," and "There are people who think it should be paid at a lower ratio than that."

Despite Lee's explanation, criticism inside and outside the party continued. On the same day, Yoon appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and pointed at Lee, saying, "When borrowing money from the next generation, our party's principle and philosophy is to support the affected people," and added, "We need to do responsible politics before history with this philosophy, and I think no one person should abruptly change this." This implies that Lee made a unilateral decision against the party's opinion.

Regarding Lee's explanation that there was a misunderstanding during the briefing by the party spokesperson, Yoon said, "If someone who says they will do new politics and break away from old-fashioned politics keeps distorting the essence and responding with tactics, our party supporters will be very disappointed."

On the previous day, Yoon also criticized on Facebook, saying, "Lee agreed with the government and ruling party's 'nationwide money-spreading game' that has deceived the people for four years." On the same day, Won Hee-ryong, governor of Jeju Province and an opposition presidential candidate, also criticized Lee's decision, saying, "The party leader is the 'representative' of the party. Beyond the outstanding activities of an individual, he must represent the party," and added, "To do that, he must be with the party."

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