Kim Jong-in: "Yoon Seok-yeol's Current Status Is Like Wandering for 5 Months Among Flies"

'Abundant Candidates but Poor Vision'
Harsh Criticism to Presidential Candidates at Sunhoo Forum

Kim Jong-in, former Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Former People Power Party Emergency Committee Chairman Kim Jong-in pointed out on the 13th, "Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol already had a swarm of flies (around him) back in March," adding, "If he can't properly deal with those flies, achieving his goal will be difficult. The fact that he has been wandering among those flies for the past five months is the current status of former Prosecutor General Yoon."

On the same day, Kim attended a live YouTube broadcast of the 'Seonhu Forum (Seonhu Forum: a group thinking about the post-election period · SF Forum)' created by lawyer Kwon Kyung-ae, former lawmaker Geum Tae-seop, and former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon. He said, "People who were active 15 years ago are now in the camp. Ordinary citizens can only say, 'What kind of new people are these?' They reject new people and mistakenly believe in their own clique."

He explained, "Even the candidates themselves only have the thought of wanting to become president, but there is no candidate who confidently recognizes the current situation facing South Korea and presents a vision based on that recognition by confidently narrowing down the issues." He added, "Looking at the current situation, there doesn't seem to be a best candidate, and if there is no best, you can go for the second best, but the second best is also hard to find."

During the broadcast, former Chairman Kim shared his thoughts on presidential candidates regardless of party affiliation.

Regarding former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, who leads the opposition support ratings, he said, "I don't know what he thought himself or how much pressure the party exerted, but he suddenly joined the party, and I think he might regret that decision himself," adding, "In reality, once he joined the party, there were no protective measures at all." He continued, "The ruling party continues emotional attacks against former Prosecutor General Yoon, and attacks are also coming from within the opposition party, so he is facing a difficult situation." He further analyzed, "The public is tired of existing politics and wants something new. With 35% support, former Prosecutor General Yoon should have aligned with the new demands fitting the times for his presidential ambitions," but "for some reason, he thought things would get better if he joined the party, so he hastily chose to do so."

Yoon Seok-yeol Likely to Regret Joining the Party
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Criticism was also directed at Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung. Former Chairman Kim said, "He participated in the 2017 presidential primary and tried hard to become president. It is true that he steadily worked toward the goal of presidency through his tenure as mayor of Seongnam and then as governor of Gyeonggi Province," but he criticized, "He is caught up in populism without a thorough understanding of basic income and is promoting it as an election pledge." He added, "If you propose basic income as an election pledge, you should explain the concept so that the public can understand it. Candidate Lee calls disaster relief payments of 100,000 or 200,000 won basic income, but that is not the case. Essentially, unless you provide money that can at least sustain a livelihood, you cannot use the term basic income."

Former Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Kim Dong-yeon was judged to have declared his candidacy too late. Former Chairman Kim said, "If he had not completed preparations and declared his candidacy by the end of last year at the latest, it would have been difficult in my view," and criticized, "But he kept postponing and came out late." He said, "After experiencing the COVID-19 crisis, economic issues would inevitably emerge seriously, so I thought a president who understands the economy well was needed. I wanted to seize that opportunity and try, but now no one even knows whether former Deputy Prime Minister Kim Dong-yeon has declared his candidacy or not."

Former Chairman Kim advised, "Don't think that negativity will be beneficial; I believe the wisest approach is for candidates to specifically say what they will do if they become president."

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