Lee Jun-seok: "The problem is trying to treat someone who is 40 years old like a child"

Lee Jun-seok SBS Radio Interview
"Daesamyeon? As if it's some great benevolent measure"
Also compared to forced apologies by school violence perpetrators

Former People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok criticized the party's Innovation Committee's so-called 'grand pardon' proposal on the 30th, saying, "I don't understand how people who have trivialized the party's Ethics Committee sanctions treat a pardon as some great benevolent act."

In an interview with SBS Radio's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' on the same day, Lee said, "First, there is the argument that there is no crime, so why pardon? Second, they discuss the pardon as if it is a great benevolent power."

He continued, "When I went to Daegu and talked about the cuckoo parasitism theory (where a cuckoo lays its eggs in another bird's nest to be raised), what I meant was that Mayor Hong has served twice as party leader and was even a presidential candidate, yet he was sanctioned for making comments that might have made Representative Kim Ki-hyun a bit uncomfortable," adding, "This person is not even running in the general election, but they cut him off from the standing advisory position through sanctions."

Earlier, the Innovation Committee decided at its first meeting on the 27th to recommend lifting the sanctions against former leader Lee and Mayor Hong, among others.

Former Lee Jun-seok, former leader of the People Power Party. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding a TK (Daegu·Gyeongbuk) region lawmaker's interview with Hankook Ilbo on the 29th, stating that "regardless of the party member's acceptance, a more inclusive image and justification have been gained," Lee responded, "People find that a bit strange," and retorted, "It's like saying that after school violence, the perpetrator forcibly apologizes to the victim, and now that the relationship has improved, it will be helpful."

He also suggested that the negative image he might gain by opposing the grand pardon could be intentional. When the host asked, "Isn't there a risk that if former leader Lee strongly opposes and rejects it, the image might actually suffer?" he replied, "It makes me think they might be aiming for that."

Lee said, "It has always been the same. For a year and a half, what I experienced was that after they did a lot of harm to me, when I opposed it, they tried to treat me like a child," adding, "The attitude of trying to treat a forty-year-old like a child is the problem with this party right now."