[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Within the Democratic Party of Korea, there is a consensus that "a united front must be maintained until the general election" regarding the 'Lee Jae-myung risk,' but Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, predicted that it would be difficult to maintain unity, saying, "The general election is still far away."
On the morning of the 27th, Ha appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said, "It seems difficult for Representative Lee to avoid imprisonment."
The day before, Jeong Seong-ho, a Democratic Party lawmaker known as a leader of the pro-Lee Jae-myung faction, appeared on the same radio program and conveyed the party atmosphere, saying, "There is a majority opinion that a united front must be maintained."
However, Ha said, "We have to say that now," adding, "It seems people are under the illusion that the general election is next spring, but it is actually the year after next, and a tremendous number of events will occur during that time."
He also said, "As time passes, voices like former Supreme Council member Kim Hae-young's will likely grow louder."
Regarding the possibility of the South Korean public official shot in the West Sea defecting to North Korea, which was raised in connection with Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Gun-young's statement at the National Intelligence Service (NIS) audit briefing the day before that "the NIS at the time identified the incident through SI intelligence, which included the word 'defection,'" Ha said, "This story came out 4 to 5 months ago," adding, "The content reported by the North Korean military to their superiors was intercepted, and among seven hours of recordings, the word appeared only once."
He explained, "(The North Korean) soldier asked Lee Dae-jun, 'Is it true that you defected to the North?' and Lee responded affirmatively in a voice that sounded exhausted, adding, "When interpreting this, if he had a proactive intention to defect, there should have been longer statements early in the recording such as 'I came to live in North Korea' or 'I respect the North Korean leadership.'"
Ha suggested that Lee likely said he defected to survive. He said, "Because the affirmative response came not at the beginning but in the middle of the recording, and in a voice that was barely intelligible to the soldier's question, our judgment at the time was that interpreting this as a planned defection was an overinterpretation."
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