Lee Jun-seok: "Yoon's remark 'Lee Jae-myung is a serious criminal' ignores Lee's supporters"

""Many Citizens Recognize Lee as Presidential Candidate Despite Being a Criminal"
"Concerned About Yoon Campaign's Lack of Vote-Gaining Strategy"

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, is announcing his position on the pardon of former President Park Geun-hye at the National Assembly on the 24th./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, called Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, a "candidate with confirmed serious criminal charges." In response, Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the People Power Party, expressed concern, saying it "disregards Lee Jae-myung candidate’s supporters."

In an interview with Hankook Ilbo on the 30th, Lee said, "Whether a criminal or not, a significant number of the opposing party’s members and the public recognize the candidate as a presidential candidate and give support comparable to ours. Each of those remarks and attitudes is influencing the moderate voters."

Recently, Candidate Yoon and Candidate Lee have been engaged in a tense exchange over when to hold a 'debate.' Yoon has rejected Lee’s debate proposal, calling it a 'political offensive.' On the 28th, at the Korea Broadcasting Journalists Club debate, Yoon said, "Accepting a politically offensive debate proposal from a candidate with confirmed serious criminal charges and no room for excuse is a difficult stance to take as an opposition party candidate."

Regarding this, Lee expressed concern, saying, "I worry this presidential election might resemble the 2002 election when candidate Lee Hoi-chang lost. At that time, people said, 'Can a candidate with lower qualifications (former President Roh Moo-hyun) be a match?' but that backfired. It’s the same now. Yoon said, 'How can I debate with a criminal?' but that is our perception."

Lee also pointed out that the party’s election campaign committee (선대위) has not established a clear 'vote-winning strategy.' He said, "At least one month after forming the campaign committee, there should be a clear vote-winning strategy, but is there any strategy that comes to mind? If you ask campaign committee members 'What is our grand strategy?' they probably won’t be able to answer. Recently, polls show Yoon’s support rate being overtaken, but without a vote-winning strategy, victory is impossible."

Meanwhile, regarding Yoon’s 'serious criminal candidate' remark, Candidate Lee appeared on MBC Radio’s 'Kim Jong-bae’s Focus' on the 29th and expressed displeasure, saying, "It seems excessive for someone who wants to become the president deciding the fate of the nation. One characteristic of special prosecutors is that they can fabricate crimes that exist, create crimes that don’t exist, and cover up crimes that do exist. They have an omnipotent sense of privilege," expressing his discomfort.

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