Kim Jaewon: "Lee Junseok told Won Heeryong 'Yoon will soon be settled'... Must address this"

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party (left), is talking with Kim Jae-won, Supreme Council member, at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 17th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Soyoung] Kim Jaewon, a Supreme Council member of the People Power Party, said that Lee Jun-seok’s remark during a phone call with former Jeju Governor Won Heeryong that "Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol will be settled soon" was confirmed as a fact after checking with former Governor Won.

On the 17th, Kim revealed this on MBC Radio’s "Kim Jong-bae’s Focus," saying, "(Former Governor Won) confirmed to the extent that, to put it bluntly, he said since Lee uses a phone with automatic recording, there should be a recording file."

He added, "At least the content that former Governor Won heard, I have confirmed as fact," and "Former Governor Won is not the type to lie in this regard."

He then directly criticized, "It is somewhat hard to believe that the party leader continuously attacks a specific candidate, especially the candidate who is number one in approval ratings, and even tells another competing candidate, former Governor Won, that 'it will be settled soon.'"

He continued, "Ultimately, if a fair primary is not held, not only will the candidates within the party rebel, but even if a candidate is selected, our party supporters may not fully unite to support the selected candidate," pointing out, "This leads to psychological rejection of the primary results."

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party (left), and Yoon Seok-yeol, former Prosecutor General (right). [Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding Lee’s attitude toward former Prosecutor General Yoon, Kim said, "I cannot clearly guess whether it is a kind of competitive feeling," and criticized, "The only mission and calling the leader should have now is to devote himself to regime change."

He stated his intention to raise the issue at the Supreme Council meeting that morning, saying, "If such stories keep coming out through the media and Lee Jun-seok caused this problem, it must be addressed."

He argued, "A complete review of the entire primary management committee is needed from the beginning," and "Since the current situation of primary management is highly likely to cause misunderstandings, it is right to restart everything from scratch."

Regarding the breakdown of the merger with Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, he evaluated, "Our party should have taken the initiative, but there was a significant misstep in that part."

Kim criticized, "Lee said he would negotiate directly, so we left it to him, but he kept attacking," and added, "He said, 'If we keep attacking for about a week and then go into a lull, the other side (People’s Party) will immediately come to negotiate,' so we trusted that, but it went the opposite way. Lee’s judgment was wrong."

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