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| Lee Jae-myung speaks to the public at Incheon Grand Park in Namdong District, May 15, as he canvasses the city. Joint Press Corps. |
PPP goes all out to snub Lee Jae-myung's Incheon by-election bid
By Ko Dong-hwan
Just around two months after losing in the March 9 presidential election to Yoon Suk-yeol by just over 240,000 votes, Lee Jae-myung returned to the political battlefield with his eyes riveted on Incheon, where he is running for a parliamentary seat in the upcoming by-election.
The head of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) election preparation committee saw mixed reactions to his election bid. After seeing Lee canvassing the streets of Incheon's Gyeyang-B District, the constituency he is running for, some people cheered to support the candidate.
But his critics at the ruling People Power Party (PPP), who had backed Yoon during the last presidential election, condemned Lee for various reasons. For instance, they opposed Lee's decision to run for the by-election in Incheon, a city they argue has no connection whatsoever with the candidate. Critics also accuse Lee of seeking to become a lawmaker in order to gain immunity from arrest for an ongoing investigation into alleged embezzlement.
But the former lawyer, mayor of Seongnam and Gyeonggi Provincial Governor, brushed off the allegations from the PPP lawmakers, steadfastly focusing on winning the hearts of Incheon residents. He managed to win 14 million votes in the latest presidential election, including over 90 percent of the ballots in the Jeolla provinces, a traditional DPK stronghold.
"Over 90 percent of DPK supporters have supported me running in this by-election, whereas most PPP supporters criticized me for the bid," Lee said during a YTN radio show on May 16. "I guess that's only natural, a very political atmosphere (in this country largely divided between supporters of the DPK and PPP). But I saw it as my responsibility to run after I saw my fellow DPK lawmakers and my supporters having a hard time after my loss in the presidential election."
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| Lee Jae-myung takes a selfie with one of his supporters on May 11 in Incheon's Gyeyang District, where he is running for a parliamentary seat. Yonhap |
After the DPK on May 11 launched an election preparation committee for the two simultaneously-held elections at the National Assembly, Lee started meeting the residents of Gyeyang and Incheon, drawing throngs of supporters on the streets.
Lee is confident he will win. He said Incheon became a debt-ridden city because of the PPP and claimed that a candidate who can serve the city better without any connection to it is better than one who can proudly claim to have links but is incapable of running it well.
"In the coming elections, for the DPK would be lucky to secure seats even in the Jeolla provinces," Lee reportedly said as he campaigned in Incheon, admitting that a majority of the public has judged the DPK by voting for Yoon, who had represented the PPP, in the latest presidential election. "I think it would be best for DPK candidates to clinch even one constituency in the capital region (Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi Province). But I want to aim higher. I want a majority of constituencies in the capital region won by DPK candidates, and I wish my victory in Incheon will drive that wave."
The PPP and their 37-year-old chairman Lee Jun-seok have been busy trying to dent Lee's public image with smear campaigns. They shared online a video of Lee delivering a speech to the public while standing on a bench and other DPK lawmakers standing next to him on the same bench, condemning Lee for abusing a public facility and making it unavailable for people who may want to use it. In another video the PPP shared, Lee seemingly shoved a girl who was standing in front of him as he tried to move to higher ground to talk to the public. The ruling party criticized Lee for being rude to the girl.
The DPK's Incheon chapter and election committee shot back by saying they cleaned the bench after Lee finished speaking on it and added that the candidate was only trying to move the girl aside in order to avoid colliding with her as he moved ahead. They demanded an apology from the PPP's Rep. Lee for producing rumors without checking what exactly happened.
"The PPP should stop their smear campaigns against Lee, who ran neck-and-neck in the presidential election with President Yoon," Rep. Yun Ho-jung, the DPK's co-chairperson, said on May 14 after visiting Lee's election camp office in Gyeyang. "President Yoon's administration should also refrain from 'killing' (ending the political career of) Lee, just as former president Park Chung-hee tried to 'kill' former president Kim Dae-jung, and just as Lee Myung-bak did to Roh Moo-hyun."
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| Lee Jae-myung and candidates from the Democratic Party of Korea running for local and by-elections on June 1 attend the party's launching ceremony of the election preparation committee at the National Assembly, May 11. Joint Press Corps. |
The PPP leaders called Lee's election bid his attempt to avoid being investigated for his alleged charges ― his involvement in a land development scandal in Daejang-dong, Seongnam, during his term as the city's mayor, and his wife's alleged abuse of the Gyeonggi provincial government's public budget for her private use during his term as the provincial governor. The country's National Assembly Act protects lawmakers from being arrested unless their criminality has been proven. The act also requires the consent of a National Assembly plenary session for a lawmaker to be arrested following charges.
Lee is running for the parliamentary seat representing Gyeyang-B District which has been vacant since former DPK chairman Song Young-gil resigned to run in the Seoul mayoral election.
Rep. Kwon Seong-dong, the PPP's floor leader, said on Facebook, May 15, he will attempt to revise the current National Assembly Act to demolish the right of lawmakers' immunity to arrest. But the move is clearly aimed at Lee.
"There has been a lot of finger-pointing about Lee's election bid, saying his actual goal was to obtain a lawmakers' arrest immunity right," Rep. Kwon said on Facebook. "Many people don't understand why he chose Incheon over Seongnam to run. (Seongnam is where Lee started his political career.) If Lee has no remorse whatsoever for his allegations and claims to be innocent, he should support my proposal of revising the National Assembly Act."
Lee has denied the PPP's accusations of abusing the lawmaker's arrest immunity right. "Why should I be afraid of getting arrested when I committed no crime?" Lee said. "It's the PPP that should be punished. They are the ones who benefitted from the Daejang-dong scandal, they are the ones who helped actual suspects behind the scandal, and they are the ones who prevented the land development from happening. I never committed a crime. If I did, would I have survived during the Lee Myung-bak or Park Geun-hye administrations?" he asked.
