Kim Jaewon: "Yoon, patting Hong's shoulder saying 'Stop it'? If so, Hong wouldn't have stayed quiet"

Kim Jae-won, Supreme Council Member of the People Power Party, is attending the on-site Supreme Council meeting held at the Gyeonggi Province Party Office in Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do on the 14th, delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Kim Jae-won, Supreme Council Member of the People Power Party, commented on former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol’s act of patting Hong Joon-pyo of the People Power Party on the shoulder, saying, "It doesn’t seem like an actual conversation took place." He cited reasons such as if Yoon had said ‘Stop it,’ Hong would not have remained silent.

On the 19th, Kim appeared on MBC Radio’s Kim Jong-bae’s Focus and shared his thoughts on the controversy surrounding Yoon’s ‘shoulder tap,’ which became a hot topic online. He said, "The shape of the mouth is enough to cause misunderstanding. The mouth shape was really like saying ‘Stop it.’" He added, "Those who practice lip-reading (a technique to understand speech through lips, face, tongue, etc.) would be able to tell precisely."

He continued, "If you look closely at the background of that day (the 15th), during the 1:1 debate, prior to that, Yoon’s statement about disbanding the party led former leader Hong Joon-pyo to publicly declare he would ‘fix his bad manners,’ but once the debate started, it fizzled out a bit." He said, "He didn’t fix his bad manners, and if by any chance Yoon had really tapped him and said ‘Stop it, I’m really annoyed,’ Hong would have surely followed through on fixing his bad manners afterward, but it’s been quiet until now."

Kim said, "Whether Yoon did that quietly as a mutter or said something else, from what I see, it doesn’t seem like such a conversation actually took place between the two."

He also mentioned the repeated news stories that leave lingering tensions after TV debates, saying, "Viewers are very interested."

Meanwhile, regarding former Board of Audit and Inspection Chairman Choi Jae-hyung, who was eliminated in the second presidential candidate cut-off and declared support for Hong, Kim said, "I think it will definitely have an impact," and predicted, "I believe it will have an effect beyond just transferring the support rate Choi had to candidate Hong Joon-pyo."

He forecasted, "It will complement Hong’s image, and since Hong was weak in the party’s power structure, this will have a considerable effect in compensating for that."