Kim Jong-in "It's Not About Choosing the First Lady"... Opposition Emphasizes 'Candidate VS Candidate'

Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, is responding at the Kwanhun Club invitation debate held on the morning of the 14th at the International Conference Hall of the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Geum Bo-ryeong] As the Democratic Party of Korea launched concentrated attacks on Kim Gun-hee, wife of Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, the People Power Party raised their voices, insisting that the contest should be 'candidate versus candidate.' They emphasized that this is a 'presidential election,' not a 'first lady election.'

On the 15th, Kim Jong-in, the People Power Party's general election committee chairman, met with reporters at the National Assembly and, when asked about allegations of false career claims by Kim, stated, "We are electing a president, not the president's wife."

He added, "Realistically, talking this way and that about a candidate's wife does not make sense to me based on common sense."

Kim Byung-joon, the standing election committee chairman, also appeared on YTN Radio's 'Hwang Bo-seon's Start of a New Morning' that day and said, "My role is to question whether such issues should really be at the center of the presidential election," adding, "What we really need to do is properly bring up growth and distribution debates, so that these become the focus of the election. I think that is my role."

On the other hand, some openly criticized the Democratic Party. Cho Kyung-tae, co-chairman of the election committee, wrote on Facebook, "Even the candidate himself, who has four prior convictions, is running for president, so it is truly absurd and laughable to make such a big deal about the wife, who is not even the candidate," emphasizing, "The Democratic Party should stop using petty election strategies and properly verify candidate Yoon himself."

Along with this, Jang Soon-chil, the standing deputy spokesperson of the election committee, issued a statement saying, "(The Democratic Party) is aggravating the already difficult lives of the people by scheming to exclude the main candidate, who is the protagonist of the critically important 20th presidential election that determines the future fate of the Republic of Korea, and instead putting forward the spouse," adding, "No one can become the president of Korea through such tricks. Although they may want to change the 'candidate versus candidate' framework to 'spouse versus spouse,' they will soon realize through the harsh judgment of the people that this will disappear even faster than the disposal of 'Jae-myeong-hak' (a derogatory term related to Lee Jae-myung)."

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