Cheong "Yoon, If He Apologizes, It Will End Cleanly... Presidential Election Scene Summons Political Corruption" (Comprehensive)

Due to stagnant air conditions, the concentration of ultrafine dust reached a "bad" level on the 26th, causing the Blue House in Seoul to appear hazy. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The Blue House has once again demanded an apology regarding Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, and his remarks on the 'investigation into deep-rooted evils,' stating that "if he apologizes, it will be a clean end," as requested by President Moon Jae-in.

A senior Blue House official told reporters on the 10th, "I don't think it is necessary to stubbornly turn this into an argument about opposition party election interference," expressing this view.

Regarding Yoon candidate's interview and the background of President Moon's renewed criticism just one day after the Blue House's statement the previous day, the official explained, "At that time, President Moon was not well aware of the contents of Yoon candidate's interview," adding, "Later, he judged it to be a serious remark."

In response to the opposition party's attack that President Moon's 'apology' remarks constitute election interference, the official said, "It is an exercise of the right to rebut against Yoon candidate targeting President Moon," and countered, "If they want to say that, they should not have made such remarks (about the investigation into deep-rooted evils)," he said.

When asked whether President Moon's mention of former President Roh Moo-hyun in an interview with news agencies that day was intended to recall retaliatory investigations, he drew a line by saying, "It is not right to directly connect future matters with painful cases from the past."

The statement released that day is known to have been directly quoted from President Moon's remarks. The official said, "The released statement was written by President Moon himself," adding, "He wrote it on a memo and handed it to his aides."

The official expressed regret, saying, "Due to the spread of the Omicron variant, we are pouring 80 to 90% of all administrative efforts here and working hard, but it is regrettable to shake the president like this and drag him into the election arena as a subject," calling it "a kind of political deep-rooted evil and old-fashioned practice."

He continued, "I hope this incident will serve as an opportunity for the presidential election to become more future-oriented and focused on policy vision," emphasizing, "If this was a remark made as part of an election strategy, it is a low-level strategy, and if it was a conviction, it is dangerous. A democrat should not make such remarks."

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