Future United Party's Another 'Outburst'... Joo Dong-sik Says "Gwangju is a City Clinging to Rituals," Previously Said "Let's Make Sewol Ferry Every Month and Sink It"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] Amid the ruling party leadership's apologies over a series of ‘reckless remarks’ by United Future Party candidates, controversy has arisen as Joo Dong-sik, the United Future Party candidate running in Gwangju Seo-gu Gap, stated that “Gwangju is a city obsessed with ancestral rites.” Joo previously sparked controversy by saying, “Let’s create and sink a Sewol ferry every month to generate jobs,” so the controversy does not seem likely to die down easily.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 8th, during a speech at the 4.15 general election candidate invitation debate, Joo said, “Gwangju is a city trapped in the legacy of the 1980s, a city obsessed with ancestral rites instead of production, a city where the monument to past tragedies has fallen into a place that blocks young people’s employment and childbirth.”

He added, “The Moon Jae-in administration and left-wing forces succeeded in coming to power by exploiting Gwangju’s democratization heritage,” and “The Moon administration’s governance is desperate. Did Gwangju shed blood to become a henchman of Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping?” He also said, “Should Honam go along with Moon Jae-in’s left-wing forces, standing as guarantors for a doomed regime’s debts and bankrupting Honam’s democratization heritage?”

As these remarks sparked controversy, Joo’s past statements also came under scrutiny. In August 2018, he posted on Facebook, “From now on, let’s create and sink one Sewol ferry every month.” He said, “Let’s make 1,000 Sewol ferries and sink them. We can create plenty of quality jobs such as truth investigation committees.” On the 9th, Joo clarified, “I was not suggesting putting people on the Sewol ferry.”