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Lee Jae-myung faces bumpy road ahead
Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, left, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) presidential candidate, speaks to DPK Chairman Rep. Song Young-gil during their visit to the National Cemetery in Daejeon, Monday. Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
Opposition party accuses Lee of masterminding suspicious land development project
By Jun Ji-hye
Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, who was selected as the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Sunday, faces an uphill battle ahead of the presidential race, as he barely managed to avoid a runoff election eking out a majority of 50.29 percent of the votes cast in the party's primaries, contrary to expectations that he would have an easy win over his rivals.
Lee's 50.29 percent, garnered through the party's 11 primaries held over the last month, was followed by support of 39.14 percent for former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon. As the governor won over 50 percent of the votes, he escaped a runoff and directly became the party's presidential candidate.
His failure to get an overwhelming majority came amid a snowballing land development corruption scandal in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, which has recently become the hottest issue in the country, with accusations from the opposition parties that Lee was responsible as mayor of the city at the time.
Lee Nak-yon's appeal against the primary results is also adding to his difficulties, giving Lee Jae-myung the two important tasks of being cleared of any involvement in the scandal and unifying all party members to win the presidential election, slated for March next year.
Hours after Lee's victory, the Lee Nak-yon camp announced its decision to appeal the result, questioning the party's decision not to count votes given to two other candidates who dropped out midway through the primaries ― Chung Sye-kyun and Kim Du-kwan.
Members of Lee Nak-yon's camp in the Democratic Party of Korea hold a news conference at the National Assembly, Monday, appealing the results of the party's primaries and calling on its leadership to carry out a runoff between Lee Jae-myung and Lee Nak-yon. Yonhap
Reps. Sul Hoon, Hong Young-pyo and other party members who worked for the Lee Nak-yon camp held a news conference Monday, claiming that Lee Jae-myung would have got only 49.32 percent of the total votes if those in support of Chung and Kim had had been counted toward the total. Thus, a runoff should take place between Lee Jae-myung and runner-up Lee Nak-yon, they said.
“We will mobilize every possible means to realize a runoff,” Rep. Hong said during a radio appearance the same day. “The Lee Jae-myung camp has stressed the need for all party members to become one team. Toward that end, this task should be resolved first.”
Supporters of Lee Nak-yon, calling the primary a “rigged election,” organized a protest in front of the party headquarters in Seoul.
If the controversy over the primaries is prolonged, it could cause a serious setback to Lee Jae-myung's election campaigning as he needs unity more than ever to win the presidential election.
Mindful of these concerns, DPK Chairman Rep. Song Young-gil said the party had confirmed Governor Lee as its presidential candidate, attempting to turn down the appeal from the Lee Nak-yon camp.
During a visit to the National Cemetery in Daejeon, Monday, accompanied by the governor, Song told reporters that the primary was conducted in accordance with party rules approved by all members.
Regarding the issue, an official from the Lee Jae-myung camp said, “We expect the Lee Nak-yon camp to soon accept the primary results as they know that the upcoming presidential election will not be easy even if we are one team.”
Political observers, however, said the former prime minister's appeal of the result will be a superficial issue, noting that a more important and thorny matter facing the governor is the land development scandal.
In the third and last vote by the general public and party members, the results of which were also announced Sunday, Lee Nak-yon garnered a surprise win over Lee Jae-myung by a large margin ― 62 percent to 28 percent. The governor's defeat was attributed to the corruption scandal surrounding him.
The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) has accused Lee Jae-myung of masterminding the suspicious land development project in Daejang-dong in Seongnam in 2015 when he was mayor.
The scandal has been centered on questions and suspicions over how a newly established small asset management firm, Hwacheon Daeyu, raked in massive profits.
Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, floor leader of the main opposition People Power Party, speaks during a media conference at the National Assembly, Monday. Yonhap
“Lee should step down as presidential candidate. That will be the beginning of rooting out illegalities and corruption,” PPP floor leader Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon said during a media conference Monday.
PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok also said during a Supreme Council meeting in Gwangju, “Lee earned less support in the last vote and barely managed to win the primary. This shows that public sentiment has already turned against him.”