Won Hee-ryong: "Korea Blaming Mrs. Kim's Texts as Jeon-dae Interference... Trying to Hide Mistakes"

"Party Division Acts"

Won Hee-ryong, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, stated, "Candidate Han Dong-hoon is trying to frame the controversy over First Lady Kim Geon-hee's text messages as interference in the party convention," and argued, "Bringing the presidential office into the party convention to cover up one's own mistakes is an act that divides the party and shakes the president."

On the afternoon of the 5th, at the 'Promise for the Future, Fair Primary Pledge Ceremony' held at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul, Han Dong-hoon, former Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party (from the left), Representative Yoon Sang-hyun, former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong, and Representative Na Kyung-won are seated side by side.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the same day, Won wrote on Facebook, "There are two serious contradictions in Candidate Han's response," and asked, "(Regarding Han's position that he tried not to resolve public matters through private relationships) then why did he send so many messages before? Why did he discuss public political judgments with 'people in private relationships'?"

Regarding Han's explanation that "the content of First Lady Kim's messages was difficult to apologize for," Won emphasized, "The only way to resolve misunderstandings and controversies is to disclose all the messages," adding, "It is the path for everyone that Candidate Han either reveals the messages to clarify the truth or apologizes and ends the controversy."

The controversy over "ignoring First Lady Kim Geon-hee's messages" stems from January, ahead of the April 10 general election, when First Lady Kim sent a Telegram message to then-Emergency Response Committee Chairman Han, expressing her intention to apologize to the public regarding the controversy over her luxury handbag, but Han reportedly ignored it.

Candidate Han claims that much of the message content is not factual and that raising suspicions itself constitutes interference in the party convention, but his competitors, Won and Na Kyung-won, are attacking this as such an act.