Lee So-young "Flood disaster happened, but Myeong-Nak meeting? People have no interest"

"Procrastination is natural, can't be harmonious"
"Thought Hong Jun-pyo was joking... Do politicians argue legalities?"

Lee So-young, the floor spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea, stated that it is "natural to postpone" the meeting between Representative Lee Jae-myung and former Representative Lee Nak-yeon amid the flood situation, amid various speculations about the delay.

In an interview with KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs' on the 19th, Lee said, "I can simply say this. Right now, everyone is in a very hectic situation due to the flood disaster, and the public is not interested in the 'Myeong-Nak meeting'."

Lee So-young, Floor Spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea. [Photo by Yonhap News]

He added, "Even those who are interested would expect a very warm, pleasant, and joyful atmosphere if the Myeong-Nak meeting takes place, but given the current situation, wouldn't it be inappropriate for the two to meet in such a cheerful manner?"

Regarding the Democratic Party's consensus on 'waiving parliamentary immunity for legitimate warrant requests,' Lee said, "Since the motion for consent to arrest is subject to a secret ballot, there is no way to verify it, but it effectively binds members to the party's decided direction."

He continued, "If a decision is made like this and the motion is rejected as before, it will be heavily criticized by the public, making it clearly difficult to make such a judgment going forward."

On the phrase 'legitimate warrant,' he said, "Personally, it is regrettable that such adjectives lead to unnecessary interpretations." However, he added, "Whether it is legitimate or not should not be judged by the targeted lawmaker or the Democratic Party, but there could be very exceptional cases where 60-70% of the public say, 'That is unacceptable.'"

Regarding the recent controversy over Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo playing golf during the flood situation and his stance that it was 'not a problem,' Lee criticized, "His remarks were so absurd that I thought he was joking." He pointed out, "He might say that on a normal weekend, but does it make sense for firefighters to take collective leave during a fire? It doesn't, does it?"

He added, "Legal reasoning should be done by judges or prosecutors," and said, "Politicians are not the ones who enforce the law. Politics must consider public sentiment. Victims at disaster sites want leaders to be with them and empathize with their pain."

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