The Democratic Party on May 15 responded to claims by Song Eon-seok, co-chair of the People Power Party's election committee, who labeled President Lee Jae-myung's market visits as election interference. "Should the government be paralyzed during the election period?" Jo Seung-rae, Secretary General of the Democratic Party, asked during a press conference at the National Assembly.
"Does that mean the president should not do anything? If that's the case, then even the Cabinet meetings would be considered election interference," he added. Jo emphasized that governance must continue even during elections, questioning whether the president should refrain from communicating on issues of diplomacy, security, politics, society, safety, and public welfare.
He dismissed the allegations as mere political attacks, calling them "quite low-level discourse."
Choi Gi-sang, also Secretary General of the Democratic Party's Election Committee and a former judge, remarked, "If the opposition claims that the president's governance violates the law, they should specify which laws were broken. It seems inappropriate to challenge the president's governance in the context of an election."
Meanwhile, Song took to Facebook to assert that the president has crossed the line of election interference by actively campaigning. He criticized Lee's visits to the Namnok Market in Ulsan on May 13 and the Moran Market on May 14, describing them as blatant election interference.
Song pointed out that Seongnam is Lee's political hometown and that the candidate for mayor, Kim Byeong-wook, is a former senior secretary to the president, suggesting that the choice of locations was intentionally dubious. He noted that while past presidents have faced allegations of election interference, none have campaigned daily at traditional markets nationwide just weeks before an election.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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