Lee Jae-myung and Yoon Seok-yeol's 'One-on-One Debate' Falls Through... Tug-of-War Continues Until the Day of the Election

Democratic Party "Yoon Seok-yeol Avoids Debate"
People Power Party "Afraid of Questions on Daejang-dong Scandal?"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] The 'one-on-one debate on the 31st' between Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, and Yoon Seok-youl, the People Power Party presidential candidate, is effectively heading towards cancellation. This is because no agreement was reached on issues such as the 'admission of materials' even until the morning of the day when the debate was scheduled to be held in the afternoon.

Ko Yong-jin, the senior spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said in a morning press briefing on the 31st, "Candidate Lee has magnanimously accepted the 'topic-free' debate proposed by the People Power Party. He has accepted all the conditions demanded by Candidate Yoon so far," adding, "Now, Candidate Yoon has no more grounds to refuse the debate."

Spokesperson Ko protested, "However, Candidate Yoon's side reversed their stance like turning over a palm by demanding the admission of materials. They should honestly confess that they have no intention of having a policy debate, just like they revealed on 'Sampro TV'."

He continued, "Was the consistent obstinacy during the practical negotiations ultimately a deception to avoid the debate and mislead the public?" and said, "Now it is Candidate Yoon's turn to respond."

On the other hand, the People Power Party rebutted that the Democratic Party is trying to derail the debate. Won Il-hee, spokesperson for the People Power Party's election campaign headquarters, said in a statement on the morning of the same day, "During the negotiation process, Candidate Lee suddenly demanded a 'no-material debate.' Since the 15th presidential election, there has been no precedent where a candidate argued that materials should not be brought to the presidential candidate debates, nor has there been a case where such an absurd demand caused the debate to be canceled."

Spokesperson Won claimed that Candidate Lee's insistence on a no-material debate is because he fears questions about various allegations such as the Daejang-dong scandal and the sister-in-law curse controversy. He said, "The no-material debate claim is nothing but Candidate Lee Jae-myung's characteristic dazzling wordplay, changing words, and lies to divert the debate," adding, "To hide the overflowing suspicions, he even mobilized the National Election Commission to block TV broadcasts, and now he demands an unheard-of no-material debate to cancel the one-on-one debate that the public expects."

He urged, "Candidate Lee should stop attempting to cancel the one-on-one debate by imposing unreasonable no-material debate conditions and immediately instruct the negotiation team to engage sincerely in negotiations." Meanwhile, Seong Il-jong, the head of the People Power Party's TV debate negotiation team, is scheduled to hold a press conference at the National Assembly in the afternoon to announce their position.

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