Kim Jae-won: "Lee Jae-myung's Press Conference, Only Saying What He Wants Like a 'No-Look Push'"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Former People Power Party Supreme Council Member Kim Jae-won gave a low evaluation of Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea's New Year's press conference held after his appearance at the prosecution, calling it "a press conference where he only said what he wanted to say and ended."

On the 13th, Kim, the former Supreme Council Member, said on YTN's 'News King Park Ji-hoon' program, "When reporters ask questions, he pushes them away with a 'No look' shove, and in the past, he rarely took questions, but when he did, he said 'Next person' like that," expressing his opinion.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He pointed out that Lee, who is embroiled in 'judicial risks,' did not even hold a press conference on his 100th day in office, saying, "It is hard to call it a press conference; it's just a formality because he is being pushed."

Regarding Lee's proposal of a '4-year single-term constitutional amendment' in response to President Yoon Seok-youl's 'major multi-member constituency system,' Kim evaluated it as "a pointless story, talking about a 4-year single term for the president, dragging that along, saying let's take care of people's livelihoods, and a summit meeting."

The opposition criticizes President Yoon for not meeting Lee, the opposition leader, for over six months. Speaker Moon Hee-sang also fiercely criticized on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' that "He is someone who lost by a narrow margin to him, yet he is not even given the basic courtesy due to a defeated candidate. It's a basic human decency."

However, former Supreme Council Member Kim said, "Rather than a summit meeting, continuous talks with the prosecution are necessary" and predicted that a summit meeting would be possible after the judicial risks end.

Regarding another judicial risk for Lee, the 'lawyer fee payment investigation,' after Kim Sung-tae, former chairman of Ssangbangwool and a potential 'key man,' was arrested in Thailand and voluntarily returned to Korea, there are criticisms that this is a 'prosecution scenario.' Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Min-seok raised suspicions on CBS's 'One Round Match' the day before, saying, "(Former Chairman Kim) could have exercised his right to defense by not entering the country and resisting, but he voluntarily returned within a day," suggesting "a somewhat fabricated scenario."

In response, former Supreme Council Member Kim dismissed the 'scenario theory,' saying, "That person is so-called from a 'gangster' background. Gangsters surprisingly do not endure well," adding, "If he were to fight in a Thai court, he would have to stay in prison for more than six months, but he cannot endure Thai food. It is better to enter a Korean prison where Korean food is provided, so he wanted to come quickly."

He added, "I don't know how long he will hold out after coming to Korea, but he will probably reveal a lot," and "Various judicial issues related to Lee are likely to be resolved surprisingly quickly."