Park Ji-won "Make Lee Jae-myung and Kim Eun-kyung apologize boldly and hold them accountable"

Kim Eun-kyung, the Innovation Committee Chair of the Democratic Party of Korea, has been embroiled in a controversy over 'elderly disparagement,' prompting the Korea Senior Citizens Association to demand a direct apology. Former National Intelligence Service Director Park Ji-won raised his voice, saying, "Lee Jae-myung, the party leader, must take a strong stance" and that Kim should be held accountable.

On the 3rd, former Director Park said on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' program, "She is not a politician, so she is somewhat clumsy with political language. (Kim herself) admitted this, but she must be made to apologize boldly and held responsible," he said.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 30th of last month, Kim mentioned the 'Remaining Life Proportional Voting System' proposed by her son during a roundtable with youth, asking, "Isn't it reasonable?" This sparked backlash accusing her of disparaging the elderly. The Democratic Party visited the Korea Senior Citizens Association the day before to apologize for the controversy, but Kim did not attend.

Former Director Park said, "Kim's true intention was not to disparage the elderly, but regardless, as President Kim Dae-jung said, politicians must consider how the public perceives things. The public reaction is that this is not acceptable," adding, "The public's opinion must be reflected quickly. If Kim refuses, then Leader Lee should call her out or instruct her to apologize, saying, 'I was wrong.' This is how to put an end to it."

He continued, "But Leader Lee is wavering. He must not waver. He should take a strong stance," pointing out that Lee has not taken significant action regarding the 'Kim Eun-kyung risk.'

Former Director Park said, "Kim made the remarks on July 30th. I called her on August 1st, and she said she would do it later, so I sent a message saying, 'Apologize.' If you look closely, these issues must be resolved promptly. Otherwise, everything will just be brushed aside. Big issues like Osong, Kim Young-hwan, and luxury goods," referring to political issues the opposition could have leveraged being overshadowed by the 'elderly disparagement' controversy.

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