Chief of Public Relations, Yoon-Kwon Seongdong's 'Internal Criticism' Message "Regret Over Exposure of Private Conversation"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] On the 27th, the Presidential Office expressed its position regarding the exposure of text conversations between Kwon Seong-dong, Acting Party Leader and Floor Leader of the People Power Party, and President Yoon Seok-yeol through media reports, stating, "It is highly undesirable that private conversation content was exposed in any way, causing some misunderstandings among the public and various media outlets. We regret this."

At a briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office that morning, Chief Public Relations Officer Choi Young-beom responded to questions about the matter by saying, "I understand that Acting Leader Kwon has already made a statement and explanation. It is not appropriate for the Presidential Office to officially provide additional comments," emphasizing this point.

Chief Choi, speaking on a personal basis, said, "As far as I know, party affairs are matters for the party leadership to manage well on their own, and President Yoon does not give daily instructions or intervene. I have never heard him speak negatively about Representative Lee Jun-seok," he stressed.

He continued, "It is not desirable to excessively overinterpret or assign political meaning to text messages that were exposed by chance," and reiterated, "It is inappropriate to take personally exchanged text messages, photograph them, and disclose them to the media to create political issues and controversies."

Chief Choi also added, "Recently, the party has faced various difficulties, and since Acting Leader Kwon has taken charge and is working hard, I only guess that President Yoon’s remarks were made in the spirit of encouragement and goodwill."

The previous day, a National Assembly photographer captured a Telegram chat room conversation where President Yoon said, "Our party is doing well too. We should keep it up like this," and added, "The party leader who used to engage in internal backbiting has changed, so things have improved."

Regarding the photo showing Acting Leader Kwon typing "Together with Kang Ki-hoon...," it was revealed that an administrative officer with the same name is working at the Yongsan office, but it has not been confirmed whether this is the same person in the text conversation. Chief Choi explained about the administrative officer, "He assists with schedule management and coordination as part of the Planning Secretary’s duties," and added, "He has not yet received an official appointment, and the appointment process is ongoing."

Administrative Officer Kang is known to play a role in reflecting the opinions of the younger generation, often called the 'MZ generation,' when planning President Yoon’s schedule in the Planning Secretary’s office.

When asked by reporters whether Acting Leader Kwon recommended this administrative officer during the hiring process, Chief Choi refrained from commenting, saying, "I do not know the details of that process." However, controversy is expected to continue as it has been revealed that the administrative officer was a founding member of the 'Liberty Dawn Party,' which is classified by the public as a hardline right-wing party.

President Yoon has maintained distance regarding the disciplinary action against Representative Lee Jun-seok, but political circles are interpreting that the recent text messages with Acting Leader Kwon may have directly or indirectly influenced President Yoon’s intentions concerning Lee’s disciplinary measures.

Meanwhile, Representative Lee criticized on his social media on the same day, saying, "On that island, when the cameras disappear, they open their eyes wide and scold, but when the cameras come in, they come with half-moon-shaped smiling eyes to shake hands," and added, "They hang a sheep’s head in front but sell dog meat behind to the ruffians," referring to the four-character idiom 'Yangdu Guyuk' (羊頭狗肉), meaning 'a flashy exterior but poor substance.' This is interpreted as expressing discomfort over the Telegram message controversy between President Yoon and Acting Leader Kwon.

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