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| Yoon Seok-youl, a presidential contender of the main opposition People Power Party, speaks during his meeting with party members of North Chungcheong Province in Cheongju, Tuesday. Yonhap |
Yoon, Hong slammed for inappropriate references to Philippine president
By Kang Seung-woo
With smear campaigns intensifying ahead of next year's presidential election, some presidential hopefuls are committing a diplomatic discourtesy by belittling the head of a friendly nation while criticizing other contenders.
Critics urge them to hold their tongues to avoid damaging diplomatic relations with allies and hurting national interest.
On Wednesday, Yoon Seok-youl, the leading contender of the conservative main opposition People Power Party (PPP), referenced Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in his criticism of pro-capital punishment remarks by Rep. Hong Joon-pyo of the same party. Hong, a five-term lawmaker, had posted on Facebook that if he is elected president, he would call for the death penalty for a man accused of beating his 20-month-old stepdaughter to death.
"Seeing a possible head of government mentioning law enforcement, it sounds like Duterte's style of governing a country," Yoon said.
In response, Hong said Yoon, a former prosecutor general, was a puppet of the Moon Jae-in administration, calling for his self-reflection.
"It is absurd to see Yoon compares my stance toward the death penalty to Duterte's governing style," Hong said.
Saying that the former prosecutor general led a massive investigation into some 1,000 conservative figures, five of whom committed suicide, during his time as prosecutor general under the Moon administration, Hong claimed "President Moon is Duterte" and that Yoon was Moon's puppet.
Amid the war of words between Yoon and Hong, Jang Seong-min, a former lawmaker and another PPP presidential hopeful, said Yoon should apologize for his remark mentioning the Philippine president.
"Yoon damaged national interest by calling out the head of Korea's friendly nation," he said.
"Yoon needs to visit the Philippine ambassador to Korea and apologize for his remark."
According to Jang, there are more than 85,000 Koreans residing in the archipelago nation and Yoon's deriding of Duterte may place them at risk.
"It is the result of ignorance," Jang said.
According to him, the Philippines established diplomatic ties with Korea in March 1949, becoming the first Southeast Asian nation to do so. In addition, the Philippines dispatched 7,429 troops to the Korean War and the two countries have sought to enhance bilateral cooperation.
"Korea and the Philippines are brothers by blood. Are they (Yoon and Hong) making the friendly country into an enemy?" Jang said.
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| Rep. Hong Joon-pyo of the People Power Party stages a protest against the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's push for a "fake news" bill in front of Cheong Wa Dae, Sunday. Yonhap |
"Considering the bilateral ties between Korea and the Philippines, it was not proper to refer to the head of a friendly country as there is a risk of negatively affecting bilateral relations," a foreign ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
Online users also criticized the remarks deriding the Philippine leader.
"Do they know that the Philippines is one of the biggest customers of Korea's defense companies?" an internet user said.
Another said, "Yoon is not only damaging the nation's diplomacy but the national interest."
It is not the first time that political rivals have committed a diplomatic discourtesy.
When Korea reached a deal with Romania to receive 450,000 Moderna doses from the southeast European last month, Hong criticized the Korean government, saying that Korea had become a "vaccine beggar."
In response, many people criticized his remark for disparaging Korea's vaccine cooperation with Romania.
