Park Jumin: "Lee Jaemyung as Player 1? There Is a Misunderstanding About the 'Design'"

Lee Jae-myung "Actually, I designed this," "It's not something to apologize for but to be praised"
Park Jumin "'Lee's design' made the project a public-private partnership and ensured benefits for Seongnam City"

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential primary candidate and Governor of Gyeonggi Province, is announcing policy pledges for the Seoul area on the morning of the 4th at the Community House Masil in Jung-gu, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim So-young] Park Joo-min, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and the general director of Lee Jae-myung's Gyeonggi Province gubernatorial presidential primary campaign, directly refuted opposition party allegations that Lee Jae-myung is the mastermind behind the 'Daejang-dong development special favor' issue, saying "There seems to be a misunderstanding" regarding Lee's 'design' remarks.

On the 4th, Park appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and explained, "The design Lee mentioned was about creating the nature of the project as a public-private partnership on a large scale and ensuring that Seongnam City would benefit," clarifying the matter.

Previously, on the 14th of last month, Lee stated at a press conference back briefing, "Actually, I was the one who made this design," adding, "Yoo Dong-gyu was the executive in charge at the Urban Housing Corporation at the time as a practical worker."

Regarding this statement, on the 3rd, Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, posted on his Facebook comparing Lee to the 'Player 1,' the mastermind in the Netflix drama 'Squid Game,' criticizing, "Player 1 should keep quiet. I've never seen someone who is Player 1 openly showing off and making noise like this."

Park clarified the relationship between Lee and Yoo Dong-gyu, former planning director of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, stating, "It was not a relationship based on special personal ties or friendship." He further explained, "Yoo worked at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation because of his successful track record in remodeling and redevelopment in Seongnam City, and his move to Gyeonggi Tourism Organization was also considered due to his planning skills and ideas."

He added, "Once the prosecution's investigation results on Yoo are out, I will express regret to the public accordingly." Regarding the People Power Party's claim that "an apology beyond regret is necessary," he responded, "I will decide based on the extent of Yoo's charges revealed by the investigation."

On the 4th, at a press conference announcing pledges in the Seoul area, Lee addressed Yoo's detention, saying, "The responsibility for managing executives and staff lies with me as the mayor at the time, and although I monitored closely, it was insufficient," and expressed deep regret that "due to institutional limitations and obstruction by the People Power Party's political forces, we could not fully recover the profits from the Daejang-dong development, causing the public to feel a sense of loss."

However, he drew a line by saying, "While I empathize with the regret, I believe this is not something to apologize for but rather something to be praised."