Choi In-ho "Lee Jae-myung, who tormented Roh, has no right to do negative campaigning through impeachment"

Presidential candidates Lee Nak-yeon, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (left), and Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Choi In-ho, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung, saying, "You have no right to summon former President Roh Moo-hyun for negative campaigning," and pointed out, "On the contrary, (Governor Lee) has targeted former President Roh Moo-hyun multiple times."

Lee, a presidential candidate from the ruling party, has been urging his rival, former Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yeon, to clarify his stance regarding the 2004 impeachment vote against former President Roh Moo-hyun. Lee claims, citing photographic evidence from that time, that Lee Nak-yeon was involved in the impeachment of former President Roh.

In response, Choi, who serves as the head of Lee Nak-yeon's campaign situation headquarters, criticized on Facebook on the 23rd, saying, "Candidate Lee Jae-myung has been continuously launching negative attacks against candidate Lee Nak-yeon. He is creating a dispute over the truth with one-sided claims, trying to confuse party members and the public."

Choi In-ho, member of the Democratic Party of Korea./Photo by Yonhap News

Choi further pointed out that Lee was actually active as a co-representative of a support group for former lawmaker Jeong Dong-young at the time, harassing former President Roh. He stated, "Former lawmaker Jeong Dong-young pushed forward the founding of the Uri Party despite opposition from President Roh Moo-hyun. At that time, President Roh believed that politics differentiating from former President Kim Dae-jung was not right."

He added, "But what happened toward the end of the participatory government? When former President Roh's approval ratings dropped, those who led the founding of the Uri Party took the lead in collectively leaving the party," criticizing, "Those who founded the Uri Party to differentiate from former President Kim Dae-jung ended up dividing and leaving the party to differentiate from former President Roh Moo-hyun."

Choi noted that Lee wrote posts criticizing former President Roh, such as "If the candidate is supported by Roh, I will not support them no matter who they are," and "Even if the absolutely essential task of constitutional amendment is discussed, the public sentiment is to dislike it if President Roh is involved," and said, "Candidate Lee Jae-myung cannot be free from the political trend that politically troubled former President Roh Moo-hyun."

He also said, "Those who harassed President Roh are now turning the issue into whether they participated in the impeachment or not, which is once again politically exploiting the late former President Roh Moo-hyun," and urged, "Candidate Lee Jae-myung, I urge you once again to stop."

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