At the Meeting with Senior Advisor Yoon: "Bring Lee Here" vs "Why Go Looking for Him"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] On the 2nd, at a meeting with the party's standing advisory group, Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, faced a heated debate over Lee Jun-seok, the party leader who has been absent from Seoul for three days, and Kim Jong-in, the former emergency committee chairman who refuses to join the election campaign committee.

Standing advisor Shin Kyung-sik said in his opening remarks, "Because of Kim Jong-in (former People Power Party emergency committee chairman) and Lee Jun-seok, our party is currently suffering various wounds. I do not believe they are individuals with significant influence who would come into the party and lead efforts that impact party strength." However, he added, "If Candidate Yoon cannot embrace these two and move forward together, it will appear as if he is trying to do politics with the inflexible personality of wielding the law like a prosecutor, and I think he will lose a considerable number of votes."

He continued, "Candidate Kim Young-sam took an early morning train to visit Representative Park Tae-joon, who represented the civil administration faction, and sat on the floor from morning until evening." He said, "As this was reported, people who had negative feelings toward YS gradually changed their stance and all joined in supporting Candidate Kim Young-sam." He then predicted, "We need to look a step ahead and endure the discomfort and unpleasantness. Even tonight, we should visit the Gyeongsang-do seaside where Lee Jun-seok is holding out, join him there, and if we bring him back to Seoul, the atmosphere will probably change starting tomorrow."

However, standing advisor Kwon Hae-ok opposed this, saying, "Why would we go find him? He is just talking nonsense there."

Meanwhile, on the same day, former chairman Kim also coincidentally appeared at the same restaurant and met with Candidate Yoon. Kim stated that he visited the restaurant for personal reasons, and Candidate Yoon told reporters after the meal, "(Former chairman Kim) was having a meal with a high school classmate. We only exchanged greetings."