Lee Jun-seok Fires Back at Joo Ho-young and Na Kyung-won: "Negativity Can Never Break Hope and Vision"

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] On the 27th, Lee Jun-seok, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, countered factional criticisms from his competitors by stating, "Negativity can never break hope and vision."

On the same day, through social media (SNS), Candidate Lee referred to his experience during the Seoul mayoral election with Oh Se-hoon and labeled the factional criticisms from candidates Joo Ho-young and Na Kyung-won as 'negativity.'

Candidate Lee said, "I have tried to absorb many strengths from various figures around politics. I learned a lot while helping Mayor Oh Se-hoon's election," adding, "Even while enduring excessive negativity from Park Young-sun (Democratic Party) camp, Mayor Oh never used the counter-negative materials gathered by his aides and calmed down the angry camp members by saying 'Let's not become the same.' That image of Mayor Oh still remains vivid."

He stated, "Negativity can never break hope and vision," and mentioned, "I will continue to show the magic of 5+4 becoming infinitely small in front of 0."

Here, 5 refers to Candidate Joo, a five-term lawmaker; 4 refers to Candidate Na, a four-term lawmaker; and 0 refers to Candidate Lee, who has never been elected as a member of the National Assembly. This implies that despite the offensives from Candidates Joo and Na, Candidate Lee remains unfazed.

Previously, Candidate Joo targeted Candidate Lee in a radio interview, saying, "If the party leader has a clear friendship with a specific presidential candidate (Yoo Seung-min), no matter how fairly they act, it becomes a point of contention." Candidate Na also said, "Two candidates came out from a specific faction," adding, "The party leader should be one who unites the opposition, but what if they mistakenly become a leader who divides the opposition?" The specific faction mentioned by Candidate Na refers to former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min, and the candidates targeted are believed to be Candidate Lee and Candidate Kim Woong.