Lee Nak-yeon "I don't want to mention the Hwang Kyo-ik issue... Basic income 'final debate' is natural"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Former Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Nak-yeon refrained from commenting on the controversy over the 'favoritism appointments' by Lee Jae-myung's camp, saying, "I do not want to mention it." However, he emphasized that a final debate on Lee's basic income policy is "definitely necessary."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the morning of the 18th, former Representative Lee said on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' that he "does not want to talk" about the issue of taste columnist Hwang Kyo-ik's appointment as president of the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization.

Earlier, Lee's camp criticized Hwang's appointment as a 'favoritism appointment' by Lee Jae-myung's side, stating, "Hwang made comments that highly praised Japanese food while disparaging Korean food as an imitation." In response, Hwang rebutted in a media interview the previous day, saying, "I saw a photo of Lee Nak-yeon wearing a tailcoat, which is a uniform of Japanese politicians. He should become the Japanese prime minister or Hara," leading to a clash between the two sides.

On the same day, Hwang continued with high-level remarks on Facebook, stating, "I will focus on ending Lee Nak-yeon's political life."

Regarding Hwang's mention of the tailcoat, former Representative Lee said, "The claim that the tailcoat is Japanese clothing is not true," but he refrained from responding further to the controversy.

However, when asked whether the previous decision to provide disaster relief funds to former Gyeonggi residents could be linked to the basic income issue, he said, "They deliberately named it disaster basic income," adding, "It seems intentional." He also expressed support for the final debate proposed by 20 Democratic Party members.

Former Representative Lee emphasized, "(Basic income) is an issue that could bring significant changes to our welfare system, so it must be thoroughly examined." When asked if this meant a dedicated final debate focusing solely on this topic, separate from the TV debates held during the primary schedule, he replied, "That would be the case. It would be separate from the debates conducted by the party's election commission."

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