"Lee Jae-myung Limited Debate on Daejang-dong, Unreasonable but Will Accept If Yoon Requests"

Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, and Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea's presidential candidate, are attending the '2022 Stock Market Festival' held on the 3rd in front of the Korea Exchange headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, and are having a conversation. Photo by National Assembly Press Photographers Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, expressed his willingness to accept a one-on-one debate proposal from Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party candidate, even if it is limited to the 'Daejang-dong scandal.'

On the night of the 3rd, Lee appeared on JTBC Newsroom and said, "It's an unreasonable matter, but if candidate Yoon wants to do it, I will." In the broadcast, Lee said, "Regarding the Daejang-dong development, as a politician, there is a failure to recover 100% of the development profits. Even if it is because of the opposition from the People Power Party, there is responsibility," adding, "Since it is an unreasonable matter, it is difficult for me to make a proposal, but if he (candidate Yoon) sincerely makes a formal proposal, there is no reason to refuse."

Regarding the recent surge in approval ratings that surpassed candidate Yoon, he said, "It has changed too rapidly within a week, so honestly, I am very surprised. It is not a situation where I can be optimistic because the opponent has fallen."

In response to criticism that he is making a 'right turn' in real estate policy, he said, "It is an adjustment to alleviate the aspects that cause pain to the people and hinder economic growth, in line with the policy goal of stabilizing housing prices," adding, "It should not be said that I changed my words." He continued, "Rather, not doing what is necessary to maintain consistency is called dogmatism. That is a more serious problem."

Regarding unification in the third political zone, he said, "I believe politics should basically be integrative, and since the president represents all the people, we should not divide into my side and your side," adding, "I have a conviction to use talents regardless of origin and faction, and not to distinguish policies as left or right, or whether they are Park Chung-hee's policies or Kim Dae-jung's policies."

When asked about the possibility of unification with Ahn Cheol-soo, the People's Party candidate, he said, "I think discussions about unification with candidate Yoon might have more weight," adding, "From experience, when politicians form alliances regardless of the people's will, there is a strong backlash, so I prefer to leave it to the will of the people and the flow."

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