'Accusation Manipulation Allegations, Jeon Du-hwan Defense' Yoon's Struggle... Ruling Party Launches Full-scale Offensive

Joseong-eun "Yoon, High Possibility of Awareness of the Incident"
Song Young-gil "At This Point, It's a Deliberate Offense"

Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential pre-candidate of the People Power Party, is touching his mask at the 'Gyeongnam Election Committee Appointment Ceremony' held at the Gyeongnam Provincial Party Office in Uichang-gu, Changwon, on the afternoon of the 19th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Park Jun-yi and Jeon Jin-young] Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate and former Prosecutor General, is struggling amid renewed allegations of instigating accusations and his remarks defending former President Jeon Du-hwan. As Yoon shows signs of wavering, the ruling party has launched a full-scale offensive, even calling him a "21st-century Jeon Du-hwan."

On the 20th, Jo Seong-eun, the whistleblower in the accusation instigation case, claimed on KBS Radio's "Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs," "It is highly likely that not only the person who gave the instructions but also former Prosecutor General Yoon was aware of the incident." She added, "The more they claim (that Yoon is not involved), the more I think the only outcome will be resignation or legal responsibility," targeting Yoon. According to the original transcript of a phone call between Jo and Kim Woong, a People Power Party lawmaker, released the day before, Kim mentioned on April 3 last year, "We will first draft the accusation letter and send it." The core of this controversy is whether Yoon instructed Kim to do this, but no direct evidence has yet emerged. Jo argued that the release of the transcript increased the possibility of Yoon's involvement.

Regarding this, Kim Kyung-jin, Yoon's campaign special envoy for external cooperation, denied the claims of election interference on CBS Radio's "Kim Hyun-jung's News Show," saying, "The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (HOCI) will reveal the truth," and "It takes two weeks just to assign the responsible prosecutor. The logic that an accusation letter would be submitted to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to influence the election does not hold."

On the 19th, Yoon faced criticism for remarks defending former President Jeon Du-hwan, and the ruling party has been highlighting the problems with these remarks through the 20th. Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party, criticized at the morning Supreme Council meeting, "How dare he praise Jeon Du-hwan while mentioning Honam, the biggest victim of Jeon Du-hwan's regime's tyranny? At this point, it is not a simple slip or mistake but a clear intentional offense." All Democratic Party lawmakers from Gwangju, Jeonnam, and Jeonbuk held a press conference at the National Assembly, demanding, "Apologize for the disparagement of Honam and the reckless remarks mocking the people, and resign from the candidacy."

Regarding the remarks about former President Jeon, Yoon explained on Facebook that "It is an undeniable historical fact that the Jeon Du-hwan regime was a dictatorship and suppressed liberal democracy," but he did not apologize for the remarks themselves, only stating, "I did not intend to defend him."

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