[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] Amid the ruling party leadership's apology over a series of 'inappropriate remarks' by United Future Party candidates, controversy has arisen as Lee Geun-yeol, the United Future Party candidate running in Gunsan, Jeonbuk, stated in his election leaflet that he would "establish a Chinese red-light district." The term "red-light district" refers to an area where brothels are concentrated and was introduced during the Japanese colonial period by the Japanese military.
The leaflet included a detailed plan under the pledge to "establish a Chinatown in the Yeonghwa-dong area of Gunsan," which mentioned "expanding and developing into a cultural center, department store, Chinese red-light district, and food street."
In response, Kim Seong-hoe, spokesperson for the Open Democratic Party, issued a statement on the 8th saying, "I want to ask if there has ever been a precedent where inappropriate remarks were not only made during the campaign period but also included in the pledges," and criticized, "Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the United Future Party, should apologize to the public, and Lee Geun-yeol should immediately resign."
Candidate Lee apologized, stating it was a "printing process error." In a statement on the 9th, Lee said, "Since it was an unfamiliar term, during a meeting related to the pledge, there was a separate instruction to verify it, but during the process of conveying the confirmed content with a time lag, the original document was mistakenly pasted, resulting in its inclusion in the pledge booklet."
He added, "Rather than making excuses about the mistake, I bow my head once again to apologize for the carelessness of not double-checking."
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