Yoon Faces Allegations of Strabismus; Ruling Party Demands "Explain"... Opposition Urges "Stop Diversionary Negativity" (Summary)

Iyangsu "Did the Cheongwadae that conducted personnel verification neglect its duties?"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] The Democratic Party of Korea has targeted Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, over allegations of anisometropia, urging him to immediately disclose his vision test records and explain to the public. In response, the People Power Party countered by demanding an end to what they called "diversionary false negative attacks."

On the 20th, Mo Jong-hwa, Co-Chair of the Defense Policy Committee of the Democratic Party’s Election Countermeasures Committee for Peace and Prosperity, held a press conference at the Democratic Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, stating, "Yoon’s vision is like a rubber band that only worsens when needed. Candidate Yoon should immediately disclose his vision test records and clarify the anisometropia military service evasion allegations before the public."

Mo said, "According to the tip disclosed by Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Byung-joo on the 7th, the 1994 civil servant physical examination for prosecutor appointment showed a vision difference between the left eye at 0.7 and the right eye at 0.5, narrowing the difference to 0.2. Furthermore, in the 2002 civil servant recruitment physical examination when Yoon was reappointed as a prosecutor after practicing as a lawyer, the left eye was 0.9 and the right eye 0.6, with only a 0.3 difference."

He added, "Since the refractive index was measured manually at that time, it raises further suspicion about Yoon’s vision test records. His vision, which was poor when he enlisted in the military, improved during the examinations for appointment and reappointment," he pointed out.

He also noted, "The medical certificate issued in early June 2019 under the name of Han Seung-han, director of the ophthalmology department at Yonsei Medical Center, showed a left eye vision of 1.0 and right eye vision of 0.15, a difference of 0.85, but I recall it did not meet the military exemption standard of a difference of 3 diopters or more. It is said that the vision difference changed to 0.7 in the vision test records submitted only to former lawmaker Oh Shin-hwan during the Prosecutor General confirmation hearing," he said.

He emphasized, "What exactly is Yoon Seok-yeol’s true vision? Is his vision like a rubber band that can change whenever necessary?"

In response, Lee Yang-su, chief spokesperson for the People Power Party, issued a statement rebutting, "Are you saying he should retake the physical examination? Does that mean the Blue House, which conducted personnel verification on candidate Yoon, was negligent in its duties?"

He continued, "During the Blue House personnel verification, Yoon received a diagnosis of anisometropia at a hospital and submitted the results. The Democratic Party lawmakers who approved this without issue are the very ones making these claims. Moreover, when related allegations were raised during the confirmation hearing, Yoon visited another hospital for an additional diagnosis and even submitted those results to the National Assembly," he explained.

The spokesperson added, "Many young people are outraged over allegations of preferential military hospital admission for candidate Lee’s son. Stop trying to divert attention with baseless claims and properly explain and apologize for the preferential treatments that occurred exclusively to candidate Lee’s son," he urged.

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