Hong Joon-pyo and Yoo Seung-min Point Fingers at Kim Jae-won: "Yoon Seok-yeol's Puppet, Must Step Down from Leadership"

Hong Jun-pyo "Kim Jae-won aiming for Daegu mayor, leading among strong candidates"
Yoo Seung-min "Kim Jae-won, like Yoon Seok-yeol's puppet spokesperson"

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Hong Joon-pyo, a presidential candidate from the People Power Party, and former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min have demanded the resignation of Kim Jae-won, the party’s Supreme Council member. They argue that Kim, who is effectively representing former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol’s side, is failing to fulfill his duty to manage a fair election and therefore should step down.

On the 25th, Hong appeared on CBS Radio’s ‘Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show’ and said, "(Kim Supreme Council member) was the political secretary who ruined the Park Geun-hye administration and should have already left the political scene." He added, "After losing in the last general election, the pro-Park faction rallied to make him a Supreme Council member again, but now he is probably aiming to become the mayor of Daegu. It is inappropriate for him to actively lead the camp of a leading candidate like that."

Earlier, Kim appeared on a YouTube broadcast and, when asked if he planned to join forces with Hong, replied, "No. I don’t want to. I think his chances of winning are slim."

Hong said, "I was the first person to conduct the nomination screening as a member of the 17th nomination screening committee," and added, "We didn’t have a bad relationship, but seeing him suddenly turn like that makes me think there might be something going on." When asked if the candidate Kim is supporting is former Prosecutor General Yoon, Hong avoided a direct answer, saying, "I don’t know about that."

Yoo Seung-min, a presidential primary candidate of the People Power Party, is holding a press conference related to the Yoon Seok-yeol camp at the National Assembly Communication Office on the 23rd. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

He criticized, "Looking at Kim’s recent series of remarks within the party, they could cause problems even in the critical presidential election. We need to shut his mouth. If he continues to harm the party like that, it could be fatal not only in the primaries but also in the general election."

Regarding how to silence him, Hong said, "There is a disciplinary procedure within the party," and added, "I understand that the camp has gathered opinions that it is right for him to resign as a Supreme Council member and has submitted a disciplinary request (at the camp level)." When asked if the disciplinary request was just a warning, he said, "No," confirming that the discipline itself is the goal.

Former lawmaker Yoo also appeared on MBC Radio’s ‘Kim Jong-bae’s Focus’ and criticized, "Kim Supreme Council member is almost acting like a puppet spokesperson for candidate Yoon Seok-yeol." Yoo said, "Kim is not playing a fair leadership role in the party leadership but seems to be playing a key role in making the primary unfair. If he continues to act like that, he should be the one to step down from the party leadership."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the People Power Party, also indirectly expressed dissatisfaction with Kim. Regarding the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission’s full investigation into lawmakers’ real estate transactions, he said, "We tried to protect the honor of lawmakers Yoon Hee-sook and Song Seok-jun as a top priority, but some leadership members mentioned their names first, which seems to have deepened Yoon’s wounds." On the same day, Yoon held a press conference expressing his grievances about the investigation results but also announced that for the greater cause of regime change, he would step down not only from the party’s presidential primary but also from his parliamentary seat.

The day before, the People Power Party held a closed Supreme Council meeting regarding the investigation results, during which Kim confirmed to reporters that among the lawmakers named as subjects of real estate suspicion were Yoon and others. In response, Lee said, "I don’t know who mentioned the names or whether it was with good or bad intentions, but since Yoon could be hurt, I will carefully look into the situation."

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