Yoon Seok-yeol "Hong, Duterte-style"... Hong Joon-pyo, Yoo Seung-min, Jang Sung-min React Strongly (Comprehensive)

Hong "Duterte Moon, You Are a Minion"

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, a presidential candidate from the People Power Party, is greeting merchants at Yukgeori Market in Cheongju on the 31st of last month. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The dispute over 'Duterte' is intensifying among the People Power Party's presidential candidates.

The opening salvo was fired by former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol. On the 1st, after visiting the Korea Senior Citizens Association and meeting with reporters, when asked about People Power Party lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo's statement that he would execute infant rapists and murderers, Yoon said, "Strong punishment for heinous criminals is what all citizens desire, and our legal system is designed accordingly," adding, "However, it is somewhat like the Duterte style for the head of the executive branch, the president, to mention judicial enforcement related to criminal punishment." In effect, he compared lawmaker Hong, who supports the death penalty, to Rodrigo Duterte, the President of the Philippines. President Duterte is a representative populist politician who declared a war on drugs and crime and pledged to reinstate the death penalty.

Lawmaker Hong immediately reacted angrily. On the same day, he wrote on his Facebook, "Rather, President Moon instructed investigations like Duterte, and you stood at the forefront of their execution," adding, "Comparing me to Duterte is a misfire. President Moon is Duterte, and you are Duterte's henchman." He further rebutted, "When President Moon Jae-in ordered investigations into deep-rooted evils, you were rapidly promoted to head of the Central District Prosecutors' Office and indiscriminately investigated about 1,000 people from our camp, detaining 200 and causing 5 suicides. You then instructed the Minister of Justice to execute a confirmed heinous criminal death row inmate according to the Criminal Procedure Act. Suddenly comparing me to Duterte is an absurd statement that is completely off the mark."

Former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min also cynically told former Prosecutor General Yoon to "reflect on himself first." Yoo said, "How many people would have made extreme choices, including the late General Lee Jae-soo, the late former lawmaker Cho Jin-rae, the late KAI Vice President Kim In-sik, the late prosecutor Byun Chang-hoon, and the late lawyer Jeong Ji-ho, if they had not been thoroughly investigated and humiliated during the deep-rooted evil investigations?" He added, "Everyone knows about the excessive arrests, investigations, prosecutions, and sentencing that candidate Yoon Seok-yeol, who acted as the sword of Moon Jae-in's power, repeatedly carried out." He then questioned, "If candidate Hong Joon-pyo is Duterte, then what should candidate Yoon Seok-yeol be called?"

Jang Sung-min, Chairman of the World and Northeast Asia Peace Forum, urged former Prosecutor General Yoon to visit the Philippine ambassador to Korea and apologize. On the same day, Jang wrote on his Facebook, "Former Prosecutor General Yoon is critically damaging national diplomacy between Korea and its ally, the Philippines, harming national interests," adding, "He disparaged our ally, Philippine President Duterte, by using him as a metaphor to criticize a political competitor. If Yoon engages in politics like this, Korean diplomacy will sink."

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