Na side Park Jonghee "First-term members line up to issue statements over nominations"

"Is It Really Something to Apologize to the President For?"
"Not Even a Policy Announcement, Yet the Senior Secretary for Social Affairs Rebuts"
"Hong Jun-pyo Is a Traitor Creating Mudslinging"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Former lawmaker Park Jong-hee, who is supporting former lawmaker Na Kyung-won, a ruling party presidential candidate, criticized the statement by 48 first-term lawmakers of the People Power Party demanding an apology from the president as "lining up because of nominations," and raised his voice saying, "Whether it is something to apologize to the president for needs to be thought over more."

On the 19th, on KBS's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs,' former lawmaker Park said, "The first-term lawmakers, in fact, every election, they are the ones who take the lead in calling for former lawmaker Na to come, and now they are lined up to issue such a statement. It makes me feel a personal sense of sorrow for former lawmaker Na."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In response to the host's question, "Are the first-term lawmakers lining up because of nominations?" he said, "Yes. Since there is only one year left until the nominations, the biggest concern is how next year's nominations will be decided. So, regardless of right or wrong, once someone starts something like this, everyone signs it. Among the two lawmakers who signed the petition, there was a party representative primary election management committee member, and there was even an incident where they resigned from the committee after signing without much thought."

Former lawmaker Na is currently in a stealth mode after his remark that "dismissal was not my intention" backfired. Not only the 48 first-term lawmakers but also the presidential office immediately clarified that it was "the president's will." Former lawmaker Park said, "The day before yesterday, when the presidential chief of staff made a strong statement, he was very embarrassed," adding, "Also, to organize various thoughts about the possibility of other problems arising if he answers reporters' questions at public events, he is now in a quiet or contemplative mode."

He added, "From the standpoint of someone who really threw their body into supporting President Yoon Seok-yeol's election, there would be both private and public relationships, and also, the president's intention was distorted in the reports. There are also signs that the president was furious, so it is a confusing state where public and private matters are mixed."

However, it still seems that he has not given up on his intention to run. He said, "Since the president is abroad doing economic and diplomatic national interest diplomacy, it is a bit cautious to cause worries with domestic political issues, so I will make the declaration after returning to the country," adding, "Also, I plan to refrain from public appearances for a while and stay quiet."

Regarding the low birthrate policy of 'loan forgiveness,' which caused a mismatch with the presidential office, he said, "This came up during a Q&A session at a press briefing and was not a policy announcement at all. However, the next day, the senior secretary for social affairs directly rejected it, saying it was unrelated to government policy and significantly different from the policy direction of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration," adding, "From former lawmaker Na's perspective, since it was not announced, he can only feel unfair."

He continued, "As the vice chairman of a body that proposes and discusses population policies, can't I even say such things at a press briefing?" and "Regarding these parts, I posted on Facebook that 'the aides are not properly reporting the truth to the president and are constantly sowing discord,' which led to a strong reaction from the chief of staff the day before yesterday."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo's call for former lawmaker Na to clarify the 'building speculation issue,' he said, "It is very questionable how the information from the public official verification process reached Mayor Hong's ears. It seems to be about the process of buying and selling a commercial building in Sindang-dong, but after deducting costs such as acquisition and registration taxes and capital gains tax, there was a profit of 16 million won. Can this be called speculation?"

He said, "There are rumors about signing a down contract and excessive loans, which are parts that former lawmaker Na feels hurt by," adding, "Those who keep making such groundless slanders are exactly the ones I called traitors."

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