[AK Radio] What Lee Jun-seok Aiming for After Criticizing Lee Jae-myung

Lee Jun-seok Says, "This Is How Accidents Happen," Criticizes Lee Jae-myung
Supporters of Lee Jae-myung Respond, "Lee Jun-seok Has No Right to Speak"
Lee Jun-seok and Lee Jae-myung Share a Common Interest in "Pushing Out the People Power Party"

Lee Jun-seok, a member of the Reform New Party, has recently intensified his criticism of Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea. It appears that he has begun strategizing with an eye on an early presidential election, going beyond mere political criticism.

On the 24th, Lee Jun-seok posted on his social media (SNS), "Whether driving or politics, this is how accidents happen," directly criticizing Lee Jae-myung. He pointed out Lee’s abrupt policy shifts, saying, "In recent days, in the political arena, he has been driving while holding the lane, repeatedly making sudden stops and starts, and changing lanes without signaling."

※ Click the video to see detailed content.

In particular, he criticized the lack of reasons or prior preparation for changes, saying, "If you are going to turn left, enter from the first lane; if you are going to turn right, enter from the curb lane, turning on your blinker accurately and driving defensively." He added, "If you turn on the right blinker while in the first lane, the public can only suspect what you are intoxicated with while holding the steering wheel," and warned, "The car carrying the people is not your personal laboratory. Drive carefully and responsibly." Regarding the People Power Party, he mentioned Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Moon-soo, saying, "He has spent his life signaling and changing lanes one by one, but recently it seems he is about to even climb onto the sidewalk blocks," pointing out a trend toward far-right extremism.

In response, supporters of Lee Jae-myung shared a photo from February 2019 when Lee Jun-seok, then a Supreme Council member of the Bareunmirae Party, was driving with the side mirror folded during a taxi driver experience, arguing, "Lee Jun-seok, who drove with the side mirror folded and only looked ahead, has no right to speak. He has driven forward without checking left or right, solely to achieve his own goals, cutting in sharply."

Lee Jun-seok’s criticism coincides with Lee Jae-myung’s recent declaration that "the Democratic Party is a centrist conservative party." Lee Jae-myung claimed that the People Power Party is "revealing its far-right nature" and that "in the current situation where they have even abandoned the formal role of conservatism, the Democratic Party’s role as a centrist conservative party has become more important." This is interpreted as the Democratic Party expressing its intention to encompass even centrist conservatives. The People Power Party maintains its current stance until the Constitutional Court’s impeachment ruling. However, lawmakers such as Ahn Cheol-soo and former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min argue that the centrist electorate should be actively embraced. Especially since support for regime change is high among centrists, the metropolitan area, and youth (jung-su-cheong), they insist that "active competition for the central ground is necessary."

Representative Lee Jun-seok is being interviewed by Asia Economy AK Radio on February 17.

Lee Jun-seok’s criticism of Lee Jae-myung can be seen as the beginning of strategizing for the next presidential election. It is similar to the strategy he showed in Dongtan, Hwaseong-si, during the last general election. In an interview with Asia Economy’s YouTube channel AK Radio on the 17th, Lee said, "Dongtan was a place where the Democratic Party had a 65 to 35 advantage. I took 27% from the Democratic Party and 16% from the People Power Party, winning with 43% of the vote." He dreams of a similar kind of upset in the presidential election.

Lee appears to be attempting to form a two-party rivalry with Lee Jae-myung. He defines the People Power Party as a far-right political force and is pursuing a strategy to absorb rational conservatives, centrists, and nonpartisan voters. His choice of an infertility center as his first field visit after declaring his presidential candidacy on the 14th is also analyzed as a move targeting the centrist and nonpartisan voters, where many young people are concentrated. Lee Jun-seok and Lee Jae-myung share a strategic interest in pushing out the People Power Party.