Was Park Jeong-hoon the politician targeted by Lee Cheol-gyu? "I feel deeply insulted"

"Deemed Unavoidable to Accurately Inform the Situation"
Rep. Lee Cheol-gyu Targets Park Jeong-hoon, Not Politician Bae Hyun-jin

Handonghun, the Chief Election Strategy Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, is campaigning in support of candidate Park Jeonghun on the 4th in Seokchon-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Baek Hyun-jin, a People Power Party (PPP) elected member, criticized Lee Cheol-gyu, a PPP lawmaker, after exposing a recorded phone conversation with him. Following this, Park Jeong-hoon, another PPP elected member, indirectly mentioned Lee Cheol-gyu on his Facebook page on the 10th.

On that day, Park shared an anecdote on Facebook about encountering Lee at a recent wedding. He said, "I extended my hand saying, 'You should greet me,' but he responded absurdly with, 'Do you know me?'" and added, "I felt deeply insulted." He further pointed out that Lee's behavior seemed to stem from thinking that he failed to achieve his 'earnest wish' because Park publicly discouraged him from running for floor leader.

Park also clarified a statement made by Lee. On the 8th, Lee said on SBS's "Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show," "Among the elected members who publicly opposed my floor leader candidacy, there was someone who encouraged me to run over the phone," adding, "Seeing people who haven't even started their political careers say such things made me somewhat concerned." Baek Hyun-jin was identified as the person Lee referred to.

Regarding this, Park explained that it was a congratulatory remark made during a phone call in early March. He added, "Lee is responsible for the crushing defeat in the general election, and after the election, I advised him that it would be appropriate not to run, considering the angry public sentiment."

He continued, "It is undesirable for politicians to engage in public emotional conflicts as it annoys the public, but I judged it necessary to clarify the exact situation," criticizing, "Excessive greed burdens others and ultimately destroys oneself."

Earlier, when asked at the National Assembly whether Lee was targeting Baek, Lee deflected by asking, "Is she a first-term lawmaker, a political newcomer?" However, Baek released the recorded phone conversation with Lee and criticized him on Facebook, saying, "Now that everything is exposed, you say 'It wasn't Baek Hyun-jin' and shift the blame to powerless first-term elected members again." She added, "When the radio host asked, 'Is it Baek Hyun-jin?' you should have immediately said 'No.' Just those three words." She criticized, "By vaguely dodging, reporters speculated and naturally wrote articles with my name. Wasn't that your intention?"