Lee Jun-seok: "Yoon Seok-yeol's 'Jeon Du-hwan Defense' Shows Political Language Immaturity... Action Needed"

Lee Emphasizes Accompanying Honam, "Party Position Remains Unchanged"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, criticized former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, who is embroiled in controversy over his remarks defending former President Chun Doo-hwan, saying, "In a situation where he has to engage in political activities going forward, it is a valid point to criticize that his political language was immature."

On the 20th, Lee met with reporters at the National Assembly and, when asked whether he thought former Prosecutor General Yoon should apologize, said, "From Yoon's perspective, it seems he hesitates to apologize because he believes his true intentions were not properly conveyed."

He continued, "Since he was a candidate who had gained considerable favor in the Honam region due to mock trials and other reasons, it would have been better to respond sensitively to this issue. I hope measures are taken to prevent the situation from escalating further."

The previous day, former Prosecutor General Yoon visited the office of Ha Tae-kyung, a People Power Party lawmaker from Busan Haeundae-gap, and mentioned former President Chun, saying, "Except for the military coup and the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising, there were mistakes, but many say he was good at politics," adding, "People from Honam also say such things."

As the controversy grew, Yoon clarified on Facebook that "It is an undisputed historical fact that the Chun Doo-hwan regime was a dictatorship and suppressed liberal democracy," but he did not apologize, stating only that his remarks were "not intended to defend" Chun.

Regarding calls for an apology and prevention of recurrence at the party level, Lee said, "It is difficult for the party to take a position based on an individual candidate's personal opinion, but as party leader, I can reaffirm that our stance remains unchanged." Earlier, upon taking office, Lee visited Gwangju and emphasized "We will never again hurt the hearts of Gwangju citizens over May 18," highlighting his commitment to "walking together with Honam."

On the renewed allegations of the "accusation order" scandal, reignited by the release of a phone call transcript between Cho Sung-eun and People Power Party lawmaker Kim Woong, Lee said, "Since Lawmaker Kim has also worked with various civic groups, it is possible to suspect the prosecution as the main party, but it cannot be specified," adding, "It is important for investigative agencies to clarify this as soon as possible."

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