Hong Jun-pyo Continues Criticizing Lee Jae-myung: "A Person Who Even Dates for Free"

"This Governor's Basic Series Is the Same as the Free Series from 10 Years Ago"
Rep. Hong's Sharp Criticism of Governor Lee Recently
"I Think He's Doing 'Gangster-like Things' and Treat Him as Someone Not Worth Dealing With"

Independent lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo is asking questions to the government in the fields of politics, diplomacy, unification, and security at the National Assembly plenary session on the 4th of last month. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Ju-hyung] Independent lawmaker Hong Jun-pyo strongly criticized the so-called 'Basic Series' policy proposed by Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, calling it a "Heo Kyung-young-style pledge that deceives the people."

On the 8th, Hong wrote on his Facebook, "Governor Lee Jae-myung's Basic Series is nothing more than a rehash of the free series that spread like wildfire in the left-wing camp over 10 years ago, just with a different name."

He continued, "Venezuela's Chavez engaged in populist politics by continuing the free series without investing oil revenues into industry or even having a refinery, and when oil prices plummeted, the country fell to the world's poorest status," adding, "In South Korea today, where national fiscal capacity has reached its limit, using the COVID-19 situation to once again deceive the people with a free series is irresponsible."

Targeting Governor Lee, he also said, "Well, since he even does dating for free, I can't stop him," and sharpened his criticism by stating, "The responsible stance of a politician is to stop the Basic Series that deceives the people any further."

Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province / Photo by Yonhap News

This is not the first time Hong has strongly criticized Governor Lee. Earlier, on the 2nd of last month, Hong referred to Lee as a 'thug' in a Facebook post and reprimanded him.

At that time, Hong said, "In December 2014, when the Korea Professional Football League disciplined Lee Jae-myung, then mayor of Seongnam and owner of Seongnam FC, I fiercely criticized the league as the owner of Gyeongnam FC and defended him," adding, "However, Lee at that time exploited this to avoid his own discipline by using a 'guilt by association' tactic, asking to be disciplined together because 'Hong Jun-pyo also criticized the Professional Football League.'

He added, "Back then, I thought, 'What kind of thug-like behavior is this?' and dismissed him as someone I couldn't associate with."

On the 28th of last month, he also criticized Lee by referring to the so-called 'actress scandal,' which involved allegations that Lee had dated actress Kim Bu-seon in the past.

Regarding this, Hong said, "Although it was overshadowed by disguised peace false agitation during the last local election, the double curse to his sister-in-law and free dating with an actress are thug-like behaviors," and claimed, "Like the recently socialized issue of school violence, such behavior is unforgivable even after 10 or 20 years."