Song Young-gil on Demand for 'Daejang-dong Special Prosecutor': "The Public Wants to Stop Seeing It"

"The People Want Something New Rather Than Simple Replication"

Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, emphasized on the 24th regarding the opposition party's demand for a 'Daejang-dong special prosecutor' targeting his party's presidential candidate, Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, that "(The investigation related to Daejang-dong) has been conducted to the extent that the public no longer wants to see it."

Leader Song appeared on JTBC broadcast that day and said, "Isn't the prosecution investigating it now?" When asked if candidate Lee would accept a special prosecutor, he said, "Structurally, (a special prosecutor) is impossible."

Regarding his earlier statement that "Governor Lee's election is also a regime change," he explained, "Although he succeeded President Kim Dae-jung, President Roh Moo-hyun represented a new change. Governor Lee used the expression 'Cheongchul-eoram' (the student surpasses the teacher), meaning he will bring about such new changes, inheriting the Moon Jae-in administration's policies and strengths while supplementing and developing its shortcomings. He added, "Our people all desire something new; they do not want a simple replication."

Meanwhile, concerning former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, a People Power Party presidential primary candidate, who recently made remarks defending former President Chun Doo-hwan and posted the so-called 'dog apology' post causing controversy, he pointed out, "It is not appropriate to limit this issue to Gwangju and Jeonnam. It will raise a significant sense of problem nationwide."

Leader Song continued, "The moderate voters are also worried, thinking 'Are we going back to the old days?'" He criticized, "Previously, when Yoon used the character '王' (king), it was suspicious as if going back to the era of superstition, and because this pattern repeats, it looks quite unclear and abnormal."

Regarding former Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Kim Dong-yeon, who declared the founding of a new party, he said, "He is someone we can cooperate with in the big picture," and "I believe there are parts we can jointly work on at the level of pledges." Former Deputy Prime Minister Kim declared the founding of the new party 'New Wave' that day.

On the possibility of joining forces with Sim Sang-jung, the Justice Party presidential candidate, he said, "I don't think it is the stage to talk about that now," and added, "We will do our best by joining forces with the Open Democratic Party."