Lee Junseok: "Cho Kuk, Silent in Court but a Big Mouth Before the Public"

"Cho Kuk Remains a Symbol of Hypocrisy"
Lee Junseok Urges Him to Exercise Restraint

Lee Junseok, leader of the Reform New Party, recently urged Cho Kuk, the former leader of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party who was granted a special pardon and restoration of rights on Liberation Day, to exercise restraint, saying, "Why are you silent in court, but a big mouth in front of the public?"

Reform New Party leader Lee Junseok paid a courtesy visit to Speaker Woo Wonsik on the 19th and had a friendly talk in the Speaker's office. Photo by Yonhap News

At the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the morning of the 25th, Lee stated, "It is hard to tolerate any longer that a person who exercised the right to remain silent nearly 300 times during the trial, deceiving the public, is now lecturing the younger generation."

Lee said, "Generally, what we expect from criminal punishment is correction," adding, "If someone takes responsible reflection for their wrongdoing and demonstrates change, we should not prevent them from functioning as a member of society again."

He continued, "However, if what has grown in prison is only a sense of revenge and self-justification, this only proves that the recent Liberation Day pardon and restoration of rights was a wrong decision."

Lee pointed out, "Former leader Cho still remains a symbol of hypocrisy," and said, "The departure of support from men in their 20s and 30s for the Democratic Party was partly due to the party's biased gender policies, but more fundamentally, it was because of the hypocrisy within the progressive camp exposed by the Cho Kuk incident."

He further criticized, "Even though he betrayed young people by personally forging certificates of commendation and internship records, former leader Cho, instead of reflecting or apologizing, is trying to cover up his failures by labeling young people as far-right and is seeking to reestablish his political standing through remarks that fuel social conflict."

Lee said, "The public may tolerate him posting a photo of soybean paste stew at a high-end Korean beef restaurant, reportedly paid for by his son-in-law, after being released from prison for the first time in a while. But any further hypocritical actions will no longer be tolerated," and urged him to exercise restraint.