Breaking the 'Debate Avoidance Frame' Limited to Yoon and Daejang-dong

Criticized for Debate Attitude So Far
Prelude to Rekindling Daejang-dong Special Prosecutor
Candidate Lee's Side: "No Reason to Refuse"

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, and Yoon Seok-youl, the People Power Party presidential candidate, are attending the Local Autonomy Awards and Korea Regional Development Awards ceremony hosted by the Korea Local Newspaper Association at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 27th, engaging in conversation. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, is reviewing a 'Daejang-dong debate proposal,' which is interpreted as an expression of his intention to quell criticism that he is avoiding debates and to highlight the Daejang-dong issue to push for a special prosecution.

First, if Yoon's side finalizes the debate format and content and officially proposes it to candidate Lee's side, the first one-on-one debate of this presidential election phase is expected to take place. Regarding this, Lee's side said, "We will respond after seeing the actual proposal," but also stated, "There is no reason not to accept the debate" (Ko Yong-jin, chief spokesperson of the Democratic Party's central election campaign committee).

So far, Yoon has emphasized the 'uselessness of debates,' but within the campaign committee, there has been a growing atmosphere of 'shouldn't we do it anyway' in consideration of the critical public opinion. On the 30th, Kim Jong-in, the general election campaign committee chairman, said, "If the debate is worth having, we can do it," and "If the topic is clearly set, we can have a debate." It was also revealed that during a move at the National Assembly, when Representative Kim Jae-won said, "We shouldn't show only a passive stance toward debates," Kim Jong-in responded, "Well, we shouldn't say we absolutely won't debate." Furthermore, within the campaign committee, there is also a strategic judgment trend to use 'debates' as a step toward introducing a special prosecution.

Yoon, in particular, received intense public criticism for saying regarding the one-on-one presidential candidate debates, "Having many policy debates doesn't seem to be very helpful." This was because a presidential candidate, who should be scrutinized by voters through debates, showed an attitude of avoiding them. There was also an interpretation that Yoon was conscious of the 'risk of gaffes' due to his notorious 'one gaffe a day' reputation. As criticism intensified, the consensus within the People Power Party's campaign committee became that they cannot simply avoid debates, and it seems that Yoon has reached the stage of reviewing a debate proposal limited to the 'Daejang-dong suspicion,' where he can take the initiative.

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