Hong Joonpyo Slams Oh Sehoon: "Losing to a District Mayor, Yet Jumping Into a Party Leadership Race?"

A Direct Hit: "Just Repeating Past Mistakes"

Former Daegu Mayor Hong Junpyo took aim at Seoul Mayor Oh Sehoon, criticizing him by saying, "Is this really the time for the mayor of Seoul to jump into a party leadership fight?"

Hong Junpyo, former mayor of Daegu.

On the 7th, Hong wrote on his social networking service (SNS) Facebook account, "The internal strife unfolding in both parties just four months before the local elections is becoming ever more spectacular," adding, "Both appear to be engaged in a struggle for party leadership. In the case of the Democratic Party, it has been less than a year since it produced a president, yet it has already entered the race for the next presidency, and a red light has come on for President Lee Jaemyung's leadership."

He continued, "What is even more pathetic is the People Power Party," and added, "For the People Power Party, this is a reckoning process that must naturally be gone through, but the disruptive forces refusing to accept it are formidable, so it seems the internal strife will be prolonged." Hong went on, "Saying we should go into an election while leaving the internal disruptive forces intact is like going into battle while carrying a cancerous tumor, and without leadership capable of breaking through that, I do not see how they intend to fight the already disadvantageous local elections." This is being interpreted as criticism of Oh and the pro-Han Donghoon faction, as well as junior lawmakers, for attacking People Power Party leader Jang Donghyuk, who pushed ahead with the expulsion of former People Power Party leader Han Donghoon as a "natural reckoning process," with Oh demanding Jang’s resignation and a confidence vote and saying Jang had "lost his qualification."

He also jabbed at Oh, saying, "Is this really the time for the mayor of Seoul, who is even losing to a district mayor (Jeong Wonoh, the Seongdong District Mayor from the Democratic Party of Korea), to step into a party leadership fight?" Recently, several opinion polls have shown Oh trailing Jeong, who is being mentioned as a potential Seoul mayoral candidate for the Democratic Party of Korea. Against this backdrop, the criticism is that Oh is demanding Jang’s resignation in order to pave the way for his own political future.

Hong further criticized, "Have you decided to give up running for a fifth term as Seoul mayor and switched course to a bid for the next party leadership?" and warned, "If you do that, you will fail at both. You are doing exactly what you did during the free school lunch referendum in September 2011, when you were eyeing the presidency."

Hong, for his part, has long argued that Han should leave politics. On January 17, he wrote on Facebook, "Even though Han made a meteoric rise thanks to Yoon Sukyeol’s favor, serving in key posts such as Minister of Justice and interim party leader, he focused solely on manipulating nominations and self-promotion, ultimately bringing about a crushing defeat in the general election." He then insisted that Han, "a 'narcissist' who, lacking insight, focuses only on superficial politics," should "leave the political arena."

In response, an associate of Oh Sehoon said, "With just four months left until the local elections, he should be well aware of the situation in Seoul and the greater capital area, so we cannot understand why he is suddenly attacking Mayor Oh. On the eve of such a desperate election, Mayor Oh’s sincere intention is to reform the party and somehow strengthen its ability to keep the Democratic Party in check."