President Yoon and Han Dong-hoon clash again

President Yoon Suk Yeol and Han Dong-hoon, a candidate for the leadership of the People Power Party through the national convention slated for July 23rd, clashed over the ‘ignoring First Lady’s text messages controversy,’ marking the third Yoon-Han conflict. When Han responded to the text controversy by calling it an "abnormal and dangerous intervention in national convention and party affairs," the presidential office retorted, "Don't drag the presidential office into the election." This response is interpreted as Yoon's direct reaction. It is the first time the presidential office has taken an official position on the text message controversy.

Following the first and second clashes over First Lady Kim's alleged acceptance of a luxury Dior bag in January and the resolution of the "Lee Jong-sup and Hwang Sang-moo" issue in March, ahead of the April 10 general election, the controversy over Kim's texting and national convention intervention has led to observations within the party that "their relationship has crossed the river of no return."

Han tweeted on July 6, "Raising the text message controversy six months later is a blatant attempt to prevent me from becoming a leader ahead of the convention. I can only interpret it as an attempt to damage, hurt, and incite against me." He added, "This kind of behavior, this kind of intervention in the convention, is wrong," directly targeting the presidential office. Han further stated, "At the time, the president's office strongly disagreed with the idea of apologizing," and added, "I don't know if people would agree if they put the blame (for not apologizing) on me, who publicly said that an apology was necessary."

On July 7, the presidential office issued a statement saying that it "has not and will not intervene in the national convention process." Candidate Won Hee-ryong echoed the presidential office's claims. "Han is trying to turn the First Lady Kim text controversy into an intervention in the caucus," Won said, adding, "The behavior of dragging the presidential office into the caucus to cover up his own misdeeds is a party-dividing and president-shaking act."

On the same day, some pro-Yoon party council leaders canceled a press conference after circulating a petition demanding Han's resignation from candidacy. "Don't be surprised that public opinion is bad," Han said, adding, "We will overcome the old-fashioned way of circulating petitions," referring to the petition incident that 53 first-time lawmakers circulated at last year's PPP national convention, which led to Rep.Na Kyung-won's defeat. "I don't know why they are making the civil war so 'dirty' and making the people annoyed and angry," said a senior lawmaker.


조권형 buzz@donga.com