MB Meets Na Kyung-won: "Party and Government Must Unite... No Room for Division"

Former President Lee Myung-bak (MB) met with Na Kyung-won, the People Power Party's representative candidate, on the 29th and urged, "The party and government must unite their strength," adding, "There is an opposition party that acts like the ruling party, so power must not be divided."

Na Kyung-won, a member of the People Power Party, is greeting former President Lee Myung-bak at his private residence in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 29th. / Photo by Na Kyung-won Campaign Office

Candidate Na visited former President Lee's residence in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, around 8 a.m. that day and held a meeting for about 20 minutes.

At the meeting, former President Lee emphasized, "The spirit of prioritizing the nation over the individual must come first," and Candidate Na said, "I ran with that mindset, but it seems the roots of our party are shaking. I came because former President Lee is the root of the party."

Former President Lee mentioned that he had seen Candidate Na's media interviews and said, "Justice and the party must take precedence over the individual as an urgent matter." He added, "The country is going through a difficult time now, and since the ruling party is a minority, we must unite our strength once again," and concluded, "There is nothing else; I just hope the country does well."

After visiting former President Lee, Candidate Na told reporters, "Former President Lee expressed a lot of concern about the party and the country," and "He said the party and government must not have conflicts and divisions, and the party must be united." She further explained, "Given the current difficult situation, he asked that both the ruling party and the government work together as one for the country."

Regarding the 'betrayal dispute' among the party leadership contenders, she said, "If betrayal against a specific person is betrayal for the people, then naturally we can understand it," but added, "If betrayal for a specific person is not for the people but for personal gain, then that is a different matter."

Earlier, candidates Won Hee-ryong and Yoon Sang-hyun directly criticized candidate Han Dong-hoon by mentioning "politics of betrayal," to which candidate Han responded, "The ones I must not betray are the Republic of Korea and its people."

Later, Candidate Na posted on Facebook, "President Lee Myung-bak, who is watching the party convention with great interest, is more deeply worried about the party's division than anyone else," and reiterated, "The party's division comes from personal greed, and greed leads to unnecessary factionalism."

She continued, "Selling out the people for personal greed, or selling out the president for personal greed, is not sincere politics for party members and the people. Politics driven by selfish interests is precisely politics of betrayal," and stated, "We need a party leader who can put aside greed and unite the party. It is not right to divide public sentiment and the success of the Yoon Suk-yeol government."