Park Ji-won: "If recommending a Prime Minister, Lee Jae-oh over Park Young-sun"

Former Pro-Chin Lee Jae-oh Recommended as Prime Minister by Chairman
"Received Proposal from Park Young-sun but Will Not Accept," Claims

Park Ji-won, the Democratic Party of Korea's elected member for Haenam, Wando, and Jindo in Jeollanam-do (former Director of the National Intelligence Service), is attending a continuation hearing related to the "West Sea Public Official Killing Incident" at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 12th.
Photo by Yonhap News

Park Ji-won, former Director of the National Intelligence Service who was elected in the April 10 general election, added a candidate to the pool for the Prime Minister appointment in the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, which is experiencing turmoil. He publicly recommended Lee Jae-oh, chairman of the Democratic Movement Commemoration Association, who was once known as the leader of the pro-Lee Myung-bak (pro-Lee) faction. On the 18th, Park appeared on YTN and said, "If President Yoon Seok-yeol asks me to recommend a (Prime Minister), I think Lee Jae-oh, chairman of the Democratic Movement Commemoration Association, would be a good choice within the ruling party." Park is the first opposition figure to name a specific ruling party member as a Prime Minister candidate.

He said, "During the Lee Myung-bak administration, Lee Jae-oh, then Minister of Political Affairs, came to me and said, 'Try recommending a Prime Minister from the opposition,' so I recommended Kim Hwang-sik, then Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, who became a successful Prime Minister." Regarding rumors about former Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun being appointed as Prime Minister, he said, "It seems I was proposed," adding, "We talked on the phone four days ago and discussed various things, but after that news came out, she hasn't answered my calls. Something seems to be going on." However, Park firmly stated, "I think she will not accept."

Lee Jae-o, Chairman of the Democratic Movement Memorial Foundation / Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

Then, Park strongly criticized the 'Park Young-sun and Yang Jeong-cheol personnel scandal,' raising suspicions of a 'non-official power broker.' On the same day, through his Facebook, he claimed, "The Yoon Seok-yeol administration, which still cannot find direction despite the crushing defeat in the general election, should be declared bankrupt," and "We must reveal who the second Choi Soon-sil of the Yoon Seok-yeol government is." He urged, "We must immediately expose the non-official power broker to prevent a second political scandal," and "The President should reveal the source of the Park Young-sun and Yang Jeong-cheol personnel scandal and apologize."

The Blue House officially denied on the 17th the rumors about 'considering Park Young-sun as Prime Minister and Yang Jeong-cheol as Chief of Staff,' but suspicions of a 'non-official power broker in the Blue House' arose as statements citing 'key Blue House officials' or 'Blue House officials' said, "It is true that it was being considered." Earlier, on the 16th, Hong Joon-pyo, Mayor of Daegu, reportedly met President Yoon Seok-yeol and recommended Kim Han-gil, Chairman of the National Integration Committee, as the new Prime Minister candidate, and Jang Je-won, a member of the National Assembly, as Chief of Staff.