Lee Jae-myung Claims "Yoon Seok-yeol's Inadequate Investigation of Daejang-dong," Hong Joon-pyo Responds "Yoon Attacked as Pressure Mounts"

Hong Jun-pyo: "Lee Jae-myung is someone who should go to prison, not the Blue House"

Hong Joon-pyo, a presidential primary candidate of the People Power Party, is preparing for the '1-on-1 Duel Debate' held on the evening of the 15th at the MBC headquarters in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Hong Joon-pyo, a presidential primary candidate from the People Power Party, targeted Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, who claimed "the person who should be arrested is Yoon Seok-yeol" regarding the Daejang-dong development corruption allegations in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province, saying, "It is proof that he is in a desperate situation."

On the 17th, Hong wrote on his Facebook, "The way candidate Lee Jae-myung and candidate Yoon Seok-yeol are biting and clawing at each other over the Daejang-dong corruption is truly unpleasant," expressing his opinion.

Hong said, "In my view, candidate Lee is the main culprit of the Daejang-dong corruption and should go to prison, not the Blue House," adding, "Attacking candidate Yoon based on rumors that are still mere speculation is proof that he himself is in a desperate situation."

In a subsequent post, Hong also attacked Lee, saying, "Candidate Lee Jae-myung's tit-for-tat strategy is truly an impressive political skill. It seems he thinks it would be easier to run the presidential election if the candidates are both involved in corruption."

He continued, "I will wait and see if the strategy of seeing only Yoon Seok-yeol as the opposition candidate and going head-to-head will really be effective," adding, "Our party members and the public are not foolish enough to fall for Lee Jae-myung's diversion tactics. The only person who can defeat a corrupt candidate is a clean one like me."

Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung is giving a greeting at the meeting between the presidential candidate, party leader, and standing advisory group held at the National Assembly on the 13th. Photo by Yonhap News

Earlier, Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate from the Democratic Party of Korea, launched an offensive against former Prosecutor General Yoon, saying, "It seems that the person who will be arrested is not Lee Jae-myung but candidate Yoon Seok-yeol. Why did you not investigate the Daejang-dong loan case as the lead prosecutor in the Busan Savings Bank investigation?" This refers to the claim that Yoon, who was in charge of investigating illegal loans at Busan Savings Bank during the 2011 'Savings Bank Scandal,' conducted a 'lenient investigation.'

Lee stated, "The Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) was publicly developing Daejang-dong, but private developers bought up land to monopolize development profits, and Busan Savings Bank made a reckless 110 billion won bad loan in that dangerous situation," adding, "If the investigation was deliberately avoided despite corruption allegations, that is a serious dereliction of duty." He further demanded, "I repeatedly urge a reasonable explanation as to why this clear loan corruption case was excluded from the investigation."

Meanwhile, in response to Lee's offensive, former Prosecutor General Yoon dismissed the claims after a press conference for recruiting lawmaker Joo Ho-young, saying, "The Busan Savings Bank case is a public fund corruption case involving trillions of public funds," adding, "It would be good if they raised suspicions with proper knowledge, but they are telling a story like a comedy. It is like complaining that a lobby was not found while investigating Samsung's slush fund case," he said flatly.

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