Snubbing allegation exacerbates tensions between main opposition leader ex-attorney general Yoon

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SEOUL, Aug. 09 (Yonhap) – The war of nerves between Lee Jun-seok, leader of the main opposition party, the People Power Party (PPP), and the main opposition presidential hopeful Yoon Seok-youl seems to s ‘to be stepped up amid controversy over the party chairman’s alleged snob.

Yoon, a former attorney general, announced his run for president in late June after stepping down in March over a protracted political row with the administration over reform of the ruling bloc’s prosecutions. The prosecutor-turned-politician, who has dominated the upper echelons in various presidential polls as an independent, joined the PPP late last month.

Although welcomed by the PPP leadership, his relationship with Lee is seen as tumultuous from the start, especially after Yoon’s team broke the news of the candidate’s joining the party on July 30 when the president was in office. absent from party headquarters.

The two met a few days later at a welcome event and gave a cordial demonstration for the camera, with Lee thanking Yoon for joining him and asking him to help find a change. government.

The president, however, has made his annoyance clear elsewhere.

“There were aspects that left a lot to be desired in terms of formalities. If there had been any rescheduling issues, (Yoon) should have consulted (with the party) again,” Lee said in a radio interview last week. . The tension rose further after Yoon chose to skip a charity event for the party’s presidential primary candidates on Wednesday.

So that campaigning them individually may be more effective “for each team. But Yoon’s absence was covered more visibly, widely interpreted as part of a larger struggle with the 36-year-old party leader.

The controversy escalated after Yoon again stayed away from a party meeting attended by presidential candidates on Thursday and opted to go on a four-day vacation instead.

Uncomfortable exchanges between Lee and Team Yoon continued over the weekend, with Lee raising allegations that the front-runner’s team secretly asked rival candidates to boycott party-led campaign events as well.

“I am aware that (the boycott request) is true,” Lee said in a media interview on Sunday. “Fukushima’s statement was made in light of all of this,” the president added, in an apparent sweep aimed at Yoon’s awkward media interview last week on the safety of Japan’s crippled nuclear reactor.

Lee also told the Yonhap News Agency that he had “confirmed” the alleged boycott request and that he had not received any explanation from Yoon’s team.

Yoon’s campaign, on the other hand, denied making boycott demands of rival campaigns. But speculation has emerged that ex-Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong was the person contacted by Yoon’s team for the alleged boycott request.

Won has neither acknowledged nor denied the speculation, which is interpreted as de facto confirmation, adding more fuel to the already volatile Lee-Yoon relationship.

Party leadership and Yoon’s team committed to damage control on Monday as Lee began his five-day summer vacation.

“Everyone should remember that any action that does not contribute to our goal of obtaining a change of government is an act that violates the interests of the party,” said Kim Jae-won, member of the PPP Supreme Council. The leader, Representative Kim Gi-hyeon, suggested that the Lee-Yoon conflict is a framed media account and an issue “that should be resolved soon.”

Shin Ji-ho, a former PPP lawmaker and a member of the Yoon team, said the team “will faithfully abide by due process” once Yoon is officially registered as the party’s leading candidate.

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