"Lee, What Will Happen to the Country If He Becomes President?"
People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol is greeting supporters at the "Corruption-Free Seongnam! Fair Republic of Korea!" campaign rally held at Exit 1 of Yatap Station in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province on the 17th. Photo by Yonhap News
[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, visited Seongnam, the political hometown of Lee Jae-myung, the candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, and directly criticized, "If Seongnam City with a population of 1 million was run like this, what would happen if you run the entire country of 50 million Korea?"
On the 17th, during a campaign at Yatap Station in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Candidate Yoon mentioned the allegations of preferential treatment in the Daejang-dong and Baekhyeon-dong development projects and the suspicions related to Seongnam FC during Lee’s tenure as mayor of Seongnam. He criticized, "(Lee) says he respects Roosevelt, but how can he recklessly mention Roosevelt’s name? Americans would laugh." This was a criticism of Lee’s claim that he would implement economic revival policies by citing former U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, who overcame the Great Depression in the 1930s, as his role model.
He said, "Seongnam is a great place comparable to Gangnam in Seoul, but because of the 'Daejang-dong Gate,' the citizens’ pride has been greatly hurt," and added, "As you know, I have been a prosecutor for 26 years, including at the Seongnam Prosecutor’s Office, and I have never stepped into politics before, so the fact that I am standing here itself means a declaration of bankruptcy for the ruling Democratic Party."
Regarding the Daejang-dong project, Candidate Yoon said, "I have never seen anyone invest 350 million won in urban development and receive 850 billion won in return anywhere on earth," and questioned, "They say they recovered 500 billion won, but did they really recover it by developing the city and building infrastructure?"
About the Baekhyeon-dong apartments, he questioned, "The 50-meter retaining wall built around the apartments where citizens live is something even the head of the Korea Forest Service said he had never seen before. Is this administration?"
He also claimed, "When the person who was the campaign headquarters chief and legal office manager during the Seongnam mayoral election was recruited by the developer, the area was changed to a quasi-residential zone through a four-step zoning change, allowing 1,200 apartment units to be built. They re-approved only 10% for rental, making a huge profit."
Regarding the suspicions of preferential treatment related to Seongnam FC sponsorship funds and Doosan Construction, he criticized, "They collected 16.55 billion won in sponsorship funds over three years from companies with pending zoning changes," and added, "I have never seen a local government giving performance bonuses just because they attracted sponsorship funds for a football team they operate."
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