Lee Won-taek, the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for North Jeolla Province governor, on Tuesday harshly criticized former party leader Song Young-gil for defending independent candidate Kim Kwan-young, calling the move "irresponsible and harmful to the party."
Appearing on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" on Tuesday, Lee said of Song, "Making remarks without even verifying objective facts is highly irresponsible." He added, "In effect, he engaged in conduct harmful to the party, and a day will come when he must take responsibility himself."
Lee expressed particularly strong displeasure over Song's recent YouTube broadcast appearance in which the former leader spoke in defense of Kim. "I tried to call him five or six times a day for three or four days to explain, but he didn't answer," Lee said. "It is wrong to put confirmed facts and mere allegations on the same footing."
Earlier, Song appeared on the YouTube channel "Speaks" on the 30th of last month and said, "The people of North Jeolla Province believe that the Democratic Party's process of expelling candidate Kim Kwan-young was flawed," adding, "Whoever wins, they are people who will work together with President Lee Jae-myung."
In response, Lee countered, "All Democratic Party candidates are people who stand with President Lee Jae-myung," and said, "It is inappropriate to evaluate by the same standard those who have been expelled from the party or have left it."
Lee also directly rebutted the "unfair nomination" controversy raised by Kim. "In Kim's case, the issue was not the payment of proxy driver fees but effectively the distribution of cash, which he himself acknowledged," Lee said. "He was unable to participate in the primary because of a matter that could constitute a serious violation of the Public Official Election Act."
Regarding Kim's claim that he had communicated with President Lee Jae-myung, Lee said, "It ultimately turned out not to be true." He added, "It makes no sense to drag the president into the election and then say it should not be politicized now."
The Democratic Party leadership also publicly distanced itself from Song's remarks. Cho Seung-rae, head of the Democratic Party's general election campaign committee, appeared on CBS Radio's "Kim Hyun-jung's News Show" the same day and said, "It appears to be a remark made by someone who has been away from the party for a long time and does not properly understand its situation." Cho added, "Kim Kwan-young is not someone recruited by the president, but a person who returned to the party through a pardon."
He went on to directly criticize Song's remarks, saying, "Since it is clearly a mistaken statement, an evaluation will be necessary after the election."
