Yoon Yeojoon: "Hong Joonpyo Likely Has Presidential Bid in Mind... Has Time to Recover"

Regarding Daegu Mayor Hong Joonpyo, who received a severe disciplinary action of a 10-month suspension of party membership from the People Power Party after playing golf during a flood crisis, former Minister Yoon Yeojoon-often referred to as the "strategist of the conservatives"-remarked that "his confidence, which comes from having weathered many ups and downs in life, was somewhat excessive."

On July 27, during an appearance on CBS's "Kim Hyunjung's News Show," former Minister Yoon said, "If you know his personality, you might just laugh it off, but as a public figure, he needs to be more cautious in his conduct."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Previously, Mayor Hong faced public criticism for playing golf during the flood situation. In response, he argued, "Where in the public sector is there a rule that you can play tennis on weekends but not golf?"-a statement that only intensified the backlash. He later issued an apology, but when news broke that the party's ethics committee had been convened, he posted on social media referring to the situation as "Gwahajiok (the humiliation of crawling under someone’s crotch)," only to delete the post later. The People Power Party's ethics committee handed down a 10-month suspension of party membership the previous day.

After the disciplinary committee's decision was announced, Mayor Hong posted on social media, "I hope there will be no more debate over this matter. I do not want further conflict or its reproduction. I still have a long period of three years ahead of me." This statement led to various interpretations about his intentions. Former Minister Yoon commented, "There's really nothing to interpret. He made that remark with the presidential election in three years and seven months in mind. Otherwise, why would he suddenly mention three years?"

He continued, "I believe the presidential election is always on Mayor Hong's mind, and he is considering running for president. He also has enough time to recover, and people may forget about this as time passes."

When asked whether this disciplinary action would make it difficult for Mayor Hong to influence nominations in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk (TK) region, Yoon replied, "It would not have been easy even without this incident. That's because the TK region is an area where the People Power Party has strong support and winning is relatively easy for the party."

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