Kim Moon-soo Rises as Top Ruling Party Presidential Candidate Amid Impeachment Phase
"Praying for Impeachment to Be Dismissed or Rejected so President Yoon Can Return"
On the Fate of Politicians: "I Can't Avoid It as I Wish"
During the impeachment phase of President Yoon Suk-yeol, Kim Moon-soo, Minister of Employment and Labor who rose as a leading candidate of the ruling party, stated, "I have never tried to be president, nor have I expected to be," but also expressed, "I feel like asking, 'Is there no way to avoid this cup?'" In an interview with 'Monthly JoongAng' on the 26th, Minister Kim said, "I earnestly pray that the impeachment will be dismissed or rejected, and that President Yoon will return to his duties with a much more humble and mature attitude."
When a Monthly JoongAng reporter asked about Minister Kim's 'cup' metaphor, "Can you refuse that cup?" he hinted at the possibility of running if an early presidential election takes place, saying, "My heart is to say, 'If I can avoid it, please let me avoid it,' but it doesn't work as I wish."
Minister Kim said, "Kim Moon-soo is a person who came from the left (labor movement) to the right (People Power Party)," adding, "You cannot move from left to right or right to left without passing through the center." He also emphasized, "The centrism's expansiveness is the expansiveness toward the working-class people busy with their livelihoods, and I believe I understand the position and pain of the common people better than anyone."
Minister Kim stated, "What is the centrist group? It is the socially vulnerable, those who are financially struggling, and the Honam people who feel marginalized; they are the centrists," and added, "I am the person who has breathed and lived with those people." He continued, "My wife is from Jeolla Province (Goheung, Jeonnam), and I lived in Jeolla for two years while imprisoned due to labor activism?one year in Mokpo Prison and one year in Gwangju Prison," and said, "I pride myself on being closer to and having spent more time with the lives of workers and common people than anyone else."
Regarding Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, he pointed out, "The judicial risk is a problem, but the moral risk is also a big problem," criticizing, "Putting his older brother in a psychiatric hospital and verbally abusing his sister-in-law is morally unacceptable." He also claimed, "It's not just the 29 impeachments that are the problem," and said, "People around me ask why so many people keep dying."
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