Yoon Hee-sook: "Ahn and Lee Should Restrain Themselves... Not an Issue for 'Falling Down' Debate to Continue"

Ahn Cheol-soo, a member of the People Power Party and standing advisor to the election countermeasures committee for the Seoul Gangseo-gu mayoral by-election, stated that he would file a complaint with the party's ethics committee, accusing former leader Lee Jun-seok of spreading 'fake news' during the by-election process. In response, former People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Hee-sook pointed out that "both of you need to exercise restraint," calling it merely a 'gossip issue.'

On the 13th, former lawmaker Yoon said on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "Aren't both of them adults? One was even a former leader, and the other is also an elder in our party. This is not the time to be having such discussions, and I believe the media should not entertain such matters either."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the previous day, Ahn announced via his social media service (SNS) that he would file a complaint with the party's ethics committee, claiming that former leader Lee had spread fake news related to him. Lee appeared on a certain radio broadcast on the 10th and claimed that Ahn's harsh criticism of the Democratic Party candidate during a campaign rally in Gangseo-gu the day before, saying 'XX and fell down,' ruined the election. Lee argued this was fake news, stating that a Democratic Party supporter first insulted Ahn with the phrase "JiX and fell down," and Ahn merely responded with humor.

Lee responded by sharing Ahn's SNS post, retorting, "You wrote a long story full of nonsense and fell down?"

Former lawmaker Yoon pointed out that the party getting embroiled in a controversy over the phrase 'fell down' itself is problematic. He said, "Should the party really get dragged into this 'fell down' debate, no matter how gossipy it is?" adding, "This 'fell down' debate cannot continue any longer."

He also said, "(Ahn) seems to have a somewhat weak mental mechanism to know when to stop, especially when he is very upset," and "Now is not the time to be saying such things."

The focus now should be on identifying the causes of the failure in the Gangseo-gu mayoral by-election and working on solutions. He also said it is inappropriate for the party leadership to be at the center of solving the problem. Former lawmaker Yoon said, "The subject of reform should not be the party leader, who is the party member responsible, but the party itself," and "Even if discussions come from the leadership, which consists of the party leader and people very close to the leader, who would believe that anything will truly change? It just doesn't feel that way."

He said that the currently discussed options, such as transitioning to an emergency committee, are unrealistic and that solutions should be sought through a party members' meeting. Former lawmaker Yoon said, "I think these discussions should be laid out and talked about at the members' meeting," and "Replacing the entire leadership and switching to an emergency committee is not very realistic."

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