"It Seems They Are Trying to Raise Their Status Through the Presidential Election," Criticism
"Current Presidential Race Similar to Eight Years Ago," Points Out
As former President Yoon Seok-yeol was impeached and an early presidential election entered the political scene, presidential candidates from the People Power Party are rushing to announce their candidacies. Amid this, former National Assembly member Geum Tae-seop pointed out, "I don't think it will be a hit at all."
On the 8th, former Assemblyman Geum appeared on SBS Radio's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' and said, "Basically, those who run in the presidential primary should think that they must win both the primary and the general election to become president, but it seems that those coming out from the People Power Party now think they will lose," adding, "It seems like, 'Since I will lose the presidential election anyway, how can I use this opportunity to raise my status afterward?'"
As former President Yoon Seok-yeol was impeached, entering an early presidential election period, presidential candidates from the People Power Party are rushing to announce their candidacies. Amid this, former National Assembly member Geum Tae-seop pointed out, "I don't think it will be a hit at all." Photo by Kang Jin-hyung
First, he criticized, "What matters is how one plans for the future, but we can't hear any such talk at all, and those running now are just saying, 'I'm better than that person.'" Then, former Assemblyman Geum said, "There should be genuine reflection, at least a clear stance on former President Yoon Seok-yeol's impeachment issue, and since he is currently indicted for treason and has even been impeached, at minimum, he should show the appearance of being expelled from the party to be able to do anything," adding, "Fighting over whether to oppose or support impeachment? Some candidates who ran in the last presidential election and even those who are called 'minor dragons' are coming out... It's very disappointing. I hope they do something better."
Also, regarding the stance the People Power Party should take toward former President Yoon, he said, "They should expel him," and added, "Watching the message of 'resident politics,' I thought, 'Indeed, former President Yoon is the greatest hidden helper of the Democratic Party.' Looking at the past few years, the Democratic Party has never done well, and the current ruling also points out various issues, but because President Yoon is so incompetent, he declared martial law, so how could they criticize the Democratic Party now?" He predicted, "If the Democratic Party wins this presidential election, they will have a very good card to play. Whenever the political situation faces difficulties, former President Yoon will release strange messages again, and then (the Democratic Party) will say, 'Aren't we better than that?'"
Regarding Speaker Woo Won-shik's constitutional amendment proposal and Lee Jae-myung's passive attitude saying, "Ending the rebellion is the priority now," former Assemblyman Geum said, "It's hard to take that purely." He claimed, "About eight years ago around this time, there was a constitutional amendment research group within the Democratic Party, and they received text bomb threats. The message was, 'We think we will win, Moon Jae-in should be president, so why talk about constitutional amendments?' It's the same as now."
Finally, he said, "Lee said yesterday that 'ending the rebellion is urgent,' which is the same as saying 'clearing out deep-rooted evils is urgent' eight years ago," and predicted, "In one or two years, he will definitely pledge and propose a constitutional amendment, but like the constitutional amendment proposed during the Moon Jae-in administration, it will reflect only one side's opinion, and since it won't pass anyway, it will just be submitted and then passed over."
Previously, in the 20th National Assembly, former Assemblyman Geum was elected as a member of the National Assembly through the Democratic Party's nomination but had conflicts with the party leadership due to his principled stance on issues such as the Moon Jae-in administration's prosecution reform. After losing the nomination in the 21st general election and leaving the party, he also served as the head of strategic planning at Yoon Seok-yeol's presidential campaign (during Kim Jong-in's tenure as the general election campaign committee chairman).
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