On the 8th, Moon Joon-yong, son of President Moon Jae-in, criticized Gwak Sang-do, a member of the People Power Party, who summoned the chairman of Konkuk University, where he is a part-time lecturer, to the National Assembly audit through his Facebook post. Photo by Moon Joon-yong
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Yeon-ju] Moon Jae-in President's son, Jun-yong, criticized Rep. Kwak Sang-do of the People Power Party, accusing him of indiscriminately abusing authority by summoning the chairman of Konkuk University, where he lectures, as a witness at the National Assembly audit, leading to a verbal dispute between the two. Reactions from ruling and opposition figures are divided.
Lee Jae-oh, former Saenuri Party (predecessor of the People Power Party) lawmaker, said in an interview on CBS Radio's 'Sisa Jaki Jung Kwan-yong' on the 12th, "For any reason, it is not right for the son of a sitting president to engage in verbal exchanges or intervene with politicians," adding, "The president's son should just quietly focus on his own work, no matter how many mouths he has, simply because his father is the president."
Earlier, on the 8th, Moon posted on his Facebook, "Rep. Kwak Sang-do summoned the chairman of the university (Konkuk University) where I lecture to the audit session and demanded my part-time lecturer evaluation materials," and criticized, "Kwak Sang-do is harming people through habitual and indiscriminate abuse of power."
Moon said, "(Rep. Kwak) asked the chairman of Konkuk University for my lecture evaluations, which basically implies that being a part-time lecturer is a special privilege," and added, "Kwak Sang-do is bad."
In response, on the 9th, Rep. Kwak refuted via his Facebook, "(The chairman of Konkuk University mentioned by Jun-yong) appeared as a witness due to the needs of Democratic Party lawmakers." Subsequently, on the 10th, Jun-yong retracted his claim, saying, "I was mistaken about some parts. I apologize," and "Let's continue to play fair."
Regarding this, former lawmaker Lee criticized, "It was wrong for Jun-yong to bring up something that could become a political issue," and said, "It is also undesirable for Rep. Kwak Sang-do to keep raising issues about the president's son. Such matters can be consistently raised by civic groups, but it is not appropriate for opposition lawmakers to raise them."
On the other hand, Professor Choi Jin-bong of Sungkonghoe University, who appeared on the same program, said, "Rep. Kwak Sang-do has continuously raised suspicions regarding the president's family, especially his children," adding, "So far, no particular problems, illegalities, or special favors have been revealed. Even if suspicions are raised, if they are reported in the media, it causes significant harm to the parties involved," criticizing Rep. Kwak's raising of the issue.
Professor Choi said, "Raising the issue itself could have been quite burdensome for Moon Jun-yong," and added, "I think there is a sufficient possibility that he felt quite offended."
He emphasized, "Rep. Kwak Sang-do should refrain from making issues out of the president's children based on unclear grounds."
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