Lee Jae-myung to Hong Joon-pyo, who said he would go to prison: "A dangerously reckless populist, please restrain yourself"

[Asia Economy=Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party's presidential primary candidate and Governor of Gyeonggi Province, directly criticized Hong Joon-pyo, the People Power Party's presidential primary candidate, telling him to "exercise restraint." Earlier, it was reported that Hong Joon-pyo said Lee Jae-myung would go to prison during his visit to Daejang-dong.

On the 24th, Lee posted on Facebook, "I would like to ask candidate Hong," and challenged him by saying, "You have served as party leader, (Gyeongnam) governor, and member of the National Assembly, but have you ever provided benefits to the people and residents through the public authority entrusted to you by the citizens?"

He continued, "It seems that the public responsibilities Hong candidate thinks of are completely different from what I think," and criticized, "When I was building Seongnam City Medical Center to strengthen public healthcare despite all difficulties, Hong candidate forcibly closed Jinju Medical Center."

He then pointed out, "For me, people's lives are more important than money, but for Hong candidate, money seems to be more important than life."

He added, "While Seongnam supported eco-friendly free school meals, Gyeongnam gave up free school meals and only provided them to low-income groups, leaving scars on the hearts of children," calling it "another incomprehensible part."

Furthermore, he expressed concern, saying, "I do not really know what kind of president Hong candidate wants to be," and "Seeing his stance on carrying out the death penalty and nuclear sharing, I see a dangerously reckless populist."

Especially, he urged, "I am worried about the country's future, so please exercise restraint," and promised, "Even if I get hurt, I have believed that politics and the public should not hesitate to do things that help the lives of the people. Since the moment young civic activist Lee Jae-myung started fighting against the preferential zoning changes in Baekgung Jeongja District, I have been fighting against construction corruption (including the Daejang-dong public development project) and will continue to do so."

Lee also firmly rebutted, saying, "The Daejang-dong development is a model case in Korean administrative history that recovered development profits, which private developers almost monopolized due to the wrong policies of the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations, and returned them to the citizens," and "It is not a matter of going to prison, as Hong candidate claims, but something that deserves an award."