Lee Jun-seok "No Unification with Ahn Cheol-soo in This Year's Seoul Mayoral Election"
Ahn Cheol-soo's Side "Immediately Stop the Disgraceful Remarks"
[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, and Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the People Power Party, are engaged in an extreme emotional conflict over the issue of unifying presidential candidates. Referring to last year’s Seoul mayoral by-election, both sides even used the word ‘paeryun’ (immorality) in their verbal battles.
On the 23rd, Lee introduced an article on social media in which Ahn said about unification with the People Power Party, “Since Lee is opposing it so much now, there is no way a unification proposal would come,” and Lee retorted, “The person who says they are not interested in unification talks about unification all day long; it seems their mind is full of unification.”
Lee also said, “Anyway, in about three months, you will run for Seoul mayor again and ask for unification, but even then, there will be no unification.” Lee’s expression implied that even if unification with Ahn occurs in this presidential election, Yoon will be the final presidential candidate, and that unification will not happen at all. Furthermore, he made it clear that although Ahn will again mention ‘unification’ in this year’s Seoul mayoral election, the People Power Party has no intention of accepting it.
In response, Shin Nari, deputy spokesperson of Ahn’s campaign, criticized, “Lee, full of inferiority complex, immediately stop your immoral remarks.” Shin said, “It is a matter known to all citizens, so painful to even explain who wanted unification more in last year’s Seoul mayoral by-election,” and raised her voice, “How can you ridicule Ahn again with unification when he diligently helped candidate Oh Se-hoon’s campaign for the greater cause of regime change?”
Deputy Spokesperson Shin expressed strong resentment toward Lee using phrases such as “Lee, who is usually far from etiquette,” “immoral remarks that are politically and ethically unacceptable,” “inferiority complex is understandable, but no more distorting facts and ridiculing the legitimate presidential candidate,” “his own clumsy mouth,” and “Lee was a politician whose hobby was to cling to Ahn’s trouser legs.”
In response, Lee again said on another SNS, “Now it is called immorality when talking about the third-place candidate,” and “It is regrettable that the third-place candidate tries to divert attention through abusive language.” He added, “Participating in the mayor’s campaign is a natural act to avoid criticism, and it was your party’s ‘immorality’ to bring up the ‘Naegok-dong Saengtaetang (pollack stew) suspicion’ trying to win the unification primary.” Lee referred to Ahn as the ‘third-place candidate,’ evaluated Ahn’s participation in the campaign after unification as ‘natural,’ and pointed out the ethical problem of Ahn joining the ruling party’s allegations about the Saengtaetang suspicion during the unification TV debate.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
