Ihn Yo-han, right, chairman of the ruling People Power Party's innovation committee, attends a forum at a university in Busan, Nov. 4. Yonhap

The American Korean chief of the ruling People Power Party(PPP)'s innovation committee said Monday he was "very disappointed" that former party leader Lee Jun-seok treated him as a foreigner by speaking to him in English during a weekend event.

Committee Chairman Ihn Yo-han, who was born and raised in Korea, can speak perfect Korean. Still, however, Lee spoke to him in English during an event in the southeastern city of Busan on Saturday in what some critics described as racist behavior.

Ihn, a medical doctor, took over as the PPP's innovation chief in charge of reforms last month. He has since tried to patch up internal feuds in the party, including Lee's badly frayed relations with party leaders close to President Yoon Suk Yeol.

After being repeatedly denied a meeting with Lee, Ihn traveled all the way to Busan in the hopes of seeing him. But Lee gave him a cold response, speaking in English from the podium to Ihn, seated in the audience.

"Mr. Linton, I wasn't expecting you," Lee said during the event, addressing Ihn by his American name, John Linton, instead of his Korean name.

Lee said he spoke in English because, "You became one of us, but you don't look like one of us."

"The real patient is in Seoul. You need to go talk to him. He needs the pill," Lee said in what the local media interpreted as a reference to President Yoon.

Ihn quipped in Korean, "He appears to be speaking better English than me."

On Monday, Ihn expressed disappointment.

"Lee Jun-seok talked to me in English. I was very disappointed," Ihn said in a radio interview. "It was hard being treated as a foreigner."

The exchange between Lee and Ihn illustrated how wide the gulf is between Lee and the mainstream faction of the PPP. Lee said in a newspaper interview published Monday that he is considering leaving the party and creating a party of his own next month.

Meanwhile, Ihn reiterated his demand for the party's senior members not to seek reelection or run in more hard-to-win districts in the upcoming general elections.

"If they love the president, if they love the country and are concerned for the country's future, they must make a decision," he said in the interview. (Yonhap)