Ha Tae-kyung "Hong, Are You Flirting with Professor Cho Kuk?" Hong Joon-pyo "Don't Behave Like This"

Won Hee-ryong "These days, my tie is blue"
Hong Joon-pyo "Originally the color of the Hannara Party"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] On the 16th, Hong Joon-pyo, a presidential candidate from the People Power Party, was criticized by other candidates during the candidate primary debate for "defending former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk."

First, former Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong, during the lead-time debate, said, "There are many concerns that you are aiming too much for reverse votes," and asked, "These days, you have been wearing a blue tie, and you said that the investigation into Cho Kuk's family was a massacre. However, Professor Jung Kyung-shim was convicted and sentenced to prison in the second trial. Do you really think it was a massacre?" He continued, "You are more fervently attacking internally than the Democratic Party side," and pointed out, "There are many concerns whether this is a People Power Party one team or a Democratic Party one team."

In response, Representative Hong dismissed it by saying, "That is Candidate Won's own perspective," and explained, "If there are reverse votes, I cannot recently win against candidates Lee Jae-myung or Lee Nak-yeon." He added, "Originally, blue is the color of the Hannara Party. Our party's colors now are red, blue, and white," and said, "It's inappropriate to quarrel over that." Regarding the term "massacre," he said, "Cho Kuk told Prosecutor General Yoon, 'I will take full responsibility for my family and go in, so don't touch my family.' If he had gone in himself, it wouldn't have been a case where the whole family had to go in, right?" He continued, "If you look there, the wife, daughter, younger brother, cousin... even Cho Kuk himself, the entire family went in."

Representative Ha Tae-kyung also directed at Representative Hong, saying, "You are having a thing with Professor Cho Kuk," and asked, "I was surprised that you openly said you love Jung Kyung-shim and want to protect Cho Kuk. Was the investigation into Cho Kuk wrong?" In response, Representative Hong said, "It wasn't wrong; it was an excessive investigation. There is no investigation that massacres the entire family."

Representative Ha again said, "The head of the family should take responsibility (for the crime), which is the law from the Joseon Dynasty's Gyeongguk Daejeon," and asked, "If an individual did wrong, the individual should take responsibility. Isn't that the constitution of liberal democracy? If there is a concern of evidence destruction or flight risk, the judge should issue a warrant, not leave it alone."

Then Representative Hong said, "I am not taking Cho Kuk's side," and mentioned that in the past, he did not arrest both brothers Jeong Deok-jin and Jeong Deok-il, who were the godfathers of the slot machine industry, but only one person. When Representative Ha said, "You didn't arrest them due to political considerations. You confessed that you were a political prosecutor by not issuing a warrant," Representative Hong said, "Don't be mean like this," and Representative Ha retorted, "I thought there was no more foul language, but you are being mean and doing bad things to a fellow candidate? That's foul language."