Jin Joong-kwon "Seeing Yoon's campaign team lineup... Approval ratings likely to reverse next month"

KSOI Poll "Yoon 42.0%, Lee 39.8%"

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, and Jin Jung-kwon, former professor at Dongyang University. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon commented on the election campaign committee formed by Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, saying, "The approval ratings are likely to be reversed next month."

On the 26th, Jin posted on his social media (SNS), "The Democratic Party has the will to expand to the center but low possibility, while the People Power Party has a high possibility but no initial will to expand. Ultimately, it seems to be a confrontation of consolidating the support bases of both sides."

On the same day, he sarcastically wrote, "The leader plays with a lucky pouch and runs an anti-feminism campaign, the candidate seats a hiring corruption figure (former lawmaker Kim Seong-tae) in the camp and vetoes the Anti-Discrimination Act, and the overall election manager is the pitcher who handled the defeat of the Park Geun-hye administration (Kim Byung-joon, standing election committee chairman). And he hasn't even stood on the mound. They are doing very well."

This was an attack on Lee Jun-seok, who emphasized the 'silk pouch' and 'Itaedam (men in their 20s)' policies, Yoon who appointed former lawmaker Kim Seong-tae, convicted for his daughter's 'KT hiring irregularities,' as the head of the occupational division, and Kim Byung-joon, the standing election committee chairman who was nominated as prime minister during the state manipulation scandal.

Jang Hye-young, Justice Party member.

Earlier, on the 22nd, Lee had a heated debate with Justice Party lawmaker Jang Hye-young over 'feminism.' On the 17th, Jang argued that a crime where a man in his 30s stabbed his ex-lover multiple times with a weapon in the emergency stairs of an apartment in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and threw her off the balcony, should be called 'dating murder' rather than 'apartment murder.'

She added, "In a world where people stab and push others to their death from the 19th floor just because of a breakup, how can women not become feminists?" and emphasized, "Do you hate feminism? Then don't kill women."

However, Lee said, "As the election approaches, attempts to link such crimes to feminism begin," and added, "What if we look at the Ko Yu-jeong case with this standard and generalize it? The correct answer is to view both Ko Yu-jeong's murder and this murder as 'gender-neutral.'"

In response, former professor Jin criticized, "Unless the gender ratio of perpetrators and victims in dating murders is 50:50, I wonder if this is said out of ignorance or if it’s nonsense said knowingly to gain support from anti-feminist macho groups after the party's priority rights have been handed over."

Meanwhile, on the same day (26th), a presidential poll showing a close race within the margin of error between candidate Yoon and candidate Lee was released. According to a survey conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) commissioned by Herald Economy from the 23rd to 24th among 1,005 men and women nationwide aged 18 and over, Yoon and Lee recorded approval ratings of 42.0% and 39.8%, respectively.