Criticism of 'Yoon Belittling': Lee Jun-seok Says "Oppose Grabbing the Pants Leg of Candidates Outside the Party"

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, is speaking at the Small Business Owners and Self-Employed-People Power Party Current Issues Meeting held at the DMC Tower in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 22nd.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Soyoung] Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, stated, "I will proceed without wavering," and emphasized, "I clearly oppose claims such as needing to cling to the pants leg of an outsider candidate or giving them a flower palanquin, and only spoke about a fair primary election, through which I received the choice of the people and party members at the party convention."

On the 23rd, in a post on his Facebook, Lee said, "The lesson everyone should have learned from the Seoul mayoral election is that if the party does not lose its center and does not waver, it can win any election."

He stressed, "Although many party lawmakers blindly followed absurd claims like 'running as candidate number 4 will win, but running as number 2 will lose,' the victory was led by party members and the public who held the center and did not get caught up in such nonsense."

This is interpreted as Lee directly confronting Rep. Jeong Jin-seok of the People Power Party, who criticized Lee's recent remarks and attitude toward former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl by saying "be humble," after Lee pointed out on the 22nd that "(Former Rep.) Ahn's political judgments when he was inexperienced are very similar to those of Yoon."

On the same day, Rep. Jeong posted on his Facebook an article titled "Politics is not entertainment," saying, "The People Power Party must seriously recognize that it is in a crisis and be humble," and criticized, "It is inappropriate to exert unnecessary pressure on former Prosecutor General Yoon by saying that support movements can only be made for candidates within the party."

Jin Jeong-seok, member of the People Power Party. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, on the 22nd, Rep. Jang Je-won of the People Power Party also sharply criticized Lee, saying, "It only looks like the leader of the main opposition party, who should protect opposition candidates, is making provocative remarks such as '(former Prosecutor General Yoon's support rate) is in danger,' which seems to induce a drop in support rates," and added, "Listening to Lee's remarks, one might mistake them for comments from ruling party commentators."

He raised his voice, urging, "I call on Lee to immediately stop his self-serving politics that lowers the value of opposition candidates to raise his own value."

Rep. Kwon Seong-dong of the People Power Party also directly criticized Lee Jun-seok on the 23rd through his Facebook, saying, "The party leader is not a commentator on the candidates." He continued, "The party leader's greatest mission is to set the stage so that the presidential candidate's strengths can be highlighted and to create a one team, but recent remarks by the party leader are extremely worrisome."

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