Ahn Cheol-soo: "Kim Geon-hee's luxury bag acceptance... Presidential Office needs to make a statement"

"Battle Over the Resignation of the Emergency Committee Chair, an Embarrassment to the People"

People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo stated that a “sincere expression of position is necessary” regarding the suspicion of “Kim Geon-hee’s receipt of luxury handbags,” which became the starting point of the conflict between President Yoon Seok-yeol and People Power Party Emergency Committee Chairman Han Dong-hoon.

On the 23rd, Ahn appeared on ‘CBS Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show’ and said, “A statement regarding the handbags is necessary. After all, everyone has come to know about it. The nature of the statement varies depending on the issuing party, method, and format. The presidential office must make an accurate political judgment.”

Regarding the conflict between President Yoon and Chairman Han, he said, “I think the differences in opinion arose during the process of trying to fix the ‘vertical party-government relationship.’” Ahn added, “A vertical (party-government) relationship violates the constitution. The government should manage state affairs well with good policies, and since the ruling party has incumbent district lawmakers, they understand public opinion better than anyone. The ideal relationship is for the government and ruling party to move forward in tacit understanding.”

He also said, “There are so many pressing issues to solve right now, such as low birthrate, aging population, and regional imbalance, so fighting simply over the resignation of the Emergency Committee Chairman is something I think is shameful to the people.”

Ahn Cheol-soo, a member of the People Power Party, is attending a joint meeting of senior lawmakers with three or more terms held at the National Assembly Floor Leader's Office on the 14th. Yoon Jae-ok, the Floor Leader and Acting Party Leader, plans to reflect the opinions of senior lawmakers gathered at the joint meeting in future party recovery measures. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Kim Jong-hyuk, the People Power Party Deputy Chief of Organization, appeared on the same radio program and, while stating that “this is not the party’s official position,” drew a line on the possibility of a resignation pressure on the Emergency Committee Chairman through a party meeting or ethics committee due to the party-government conflict between President Yoon and Chairman Han. He said, “I think the possibility is very low.” He added, “We are only 78 days away from the general election. It would be hard to tolerate causing internal strife before such a big fight.”

Meanwhile, the discord between President Yoon and Chairman Han surfaced on the 21st when a key official from the presidential office suggested Chairman Han’s resignation. It is interpreted that the main cause of the conflict is the disagreement over how to respond to the suspicion regarding Kim Geon-hee’s receipt of luxury handbags.

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