Jang Ye-chan Sparks Racing Rampage Controversy Again... Counterattack with "Juncheongrae Prevention Act"

Igiin "Writing Erotic Novels and Suspected Illegal Racing"
Jang Ye-chan "Blocking Drunk Driving Duty,
Promoting 'Lee Jun-seok and Jeong Cheong-rae Law' to Prevent Mockery Within the Party"

The conflict among the youth supreme councilor candidates in the People Power Party's March 8 party convention is intensifying. Pro-Yoon (pro-Yoon Seok-yeol) faction candidate Jang Ye-chan has been under intense scrutiny not only for the controversy over a web novel that sexualized singer IU but also for allegations that he participated in illegal racing gatherings in the past, leading to heated exchanges among candidates.

Youth supreme councilor candidate Lee Gi-in directly targeted Jang Ye-chan at a joint speech held on the 2nd at Goyang Gymnasium in Gyeonggi Province. Regarding the recent allegations surrounding Jang, including the web novel and reckless racing, Lee said, "It is clear that candidate Jang is self-destructing," and pointed out, "His past includes writing erotic novels for profit and racing as a hobby." He added, "The problem lies in Jang's response, which resembles that of Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, showing tendencies to destroy evidence."

This was aimed at Jang, who in 2013 created and operated a Facebook group called 'TeamSWIFT' and served as an administrator. After reports surfaced that members posted videos of 'drag racing' (a car race on a straight road to see which vehicle arrives first) and 'winding' (speeding on winding roads) on public roads, the group was switched to private.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

However, immediately after the speech, Jang told reporters, "My friends are being subjected to malicious comment attacks," and rebutted, "There was no evidence in the videos or photos that illegal acts were committed. What is wrong with putting stickers and marking cars with my friends?"

In the same speech, Jang also said, "I traveled across the country fighting the Democratic Party led by Lee Jae-myung externally, and internally scolding Lee Jun-seok and his avatars," and directly criticized former leader Lee Jun-seok, who supports the so-called 'Cheonhayongin (Cheon Ha-ram, Heo Eun-ah, Kim Yong-tae, Lee Gi-in)' running in this convention, saying, "Unlike Lee Jun-seok, I did not shamelessly live by promoting the president's name in my 20s and getting free drinks at room salons from businessmen."

He emphasized, "I did not make a fortune with Bitcoin like Lee Jun-seok, nor did I live off my parents' money in politics like Lee Jun-seok's avatars. We must create a country that revives the dreams of ordinary people, the dreams of ordinary youth, not grandiose stories."

People Power Party candidates for the Youth Supreme Committee, Kim Jeong-sik (from left), Lee Gi-in, Kim Ga-ram, and Jang Ye-chan, are holding hands and greeting party members at the 3rd Party Convention Seoul·Incheon·Gyeonggi Joint Speech Meeting held at Goyang Gymnasium in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do on the 2nd. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Jang also criticized Heo Eun-ah, a lawmaker aligned with Lee Jun-seok and a candidate for supreme councilor. He said, "Regardless of timing, habitual offenders who have drunk-driven more than twice will be completely blocked from advancing to leadership and major party positions by party rules and regulations," raising his voice calling it the "Heo Eun-ah Prevention Act."

He added, "I will also cut off low-quality SNS politics filled with sarcasm and ridicule," calling it the "so-called Juncheongrae Prevention Act." He said, "We will include low-level SNS activities and speech that mocks and ridicules fellow party comrades, like Lee Jun-seok and Democratic Party's Jung Cheong-rae, in party audits to create a dignified conservative party."

Regarding calls for his withdrawal, Jang said, "I feel pity." On the illegal racing issue, he dismissed it as "a long-ago club activity."