President Lee: "Coupang Suspect Is Chinese? So What... We Must Curb Anti-China Agitation"

President Lee Jae-myung Holds Press Conference in China on the 7th
Calls Chinese Election Conspiracy Theories "Nonsense"
Lee: "If the Suspect Were Japanese, Would We Hate Japan?"

President Lee Jae-myung, who is on a state visit to China, is answering questions from the press during a luncheon meeting with the press corps held at a hotel in Shanghai on the 7th. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

On the 7th (local time), President Lee Jaemyung stated, regarding efforts to improve anti-China and anti-Korea sentiment, "Both I and the Chinese leadership agreed on this."

During a luncheon meeting with the accompanying press corps at the Shanghai Press Center in China, where he is on a state visit, President Lee said, "Widespread and persistent deterioration of anti-China and anti-Korea sentiment in both countries has caused significant harm," and made these remarks.

President Lee went on to say, "We must eliminate unfounded and unnecessary incitement of anti-China sentiment," adding, "Spreading baseless conspiracy theories about alleged election fraud or claiming that China is interfering in our affairs-such irrational statements only provoke negative emotions." He specifically criticized conspiracy theories suggesting Chinese interference in domestic elections, stating, "There is no basis for these claims, and they are unnecessary."

President Lee further explained, "(Korea) imposes strict sanctions on clearly false claims or actions," and added, "As the Chinese government and the Chinese people have come to know about this, it seems that their perception of Korea has improved significantly." He emphasized, "We must continue our efforts to curb and prevent the incitement or agitation of anti-China and anti-Korea sentiment in the future as well."

Regarding recent reports that the main suspect in the Coupang personal information leak incident is a former employee of Chinese nationality, President Lee dismissed the anti-China sentiment, saying, "What are we supposed to do about that?" He pointed out, "If the suspect were Japanese, would we then start hating Japanese people? If there are Americans at Coupang, should we hate Americans? But we do not do that."