Lee Won-taek vows to defeat Kim Kwan-young, says North Jeolla needs party backing to develop

Lee Won-taek, the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for governor of North Jeolla Special Self-Governing Province in the June 3 local elections, said Tuesday he was confident of winning by rallying his base, arguing that "there is a strong sense that North Jeolla simply cannot develop under an independent candidate."

Speaking on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Morning Focus," Lee assessed the tight race against independent candidate Kim Kwan-young and said, "From what we can feel on the ground, I believe we have more than enough to win." He also attributed North Jeolla's record-high early voting turnout — the highest in the country — to Democratic Party supporters turning out in force out of concern over the contest between the party's candidate and an independent.

Lee mounted a sweeping counterattack against Kim's claims of an unfair nomination process. "The independent candidate is pushing two false narratives," Lee said. "One is that the party's nomination process was unfair, and the other is that I coordinated with President Lee Jae Myung." He said Kim's disqualification from the primary was not a matter of reimbursing a driver's fee but of distributing cash. "It was confirmed on CCTV and he admitted it himself," Lee said. "If that had been overlooked, wouldn't it have posed a risk to races across the country — the Seoul mayoral race, the Busan mayoral race, the Daejeon mayoral race?"

Lee also sharply criticized what he called rumors spread by Kim's camp linking President Lee to the North Jeolla race. "Cheong Wa Dae was dragged into this race, while behind the scenes rumors were flying that a pro-Lee Jae Myung candidate should run, that the president would allow a return to the party," he said. "It was Kim himself who publicly invoked the president in media interviews." Lee added that it was "truly shameless" for Kim to now call for an end to political point-scoring after Cheong Wa Dae denied any involvement. "He dragged the president in himself, and now that it has turned out to be untrue, he says don't make it a political fight — that makes no sense," Lee said.

Lee also took aim at Song Young-gil, a fellow Democratic Party candidate running in the Incheon Yeonsu-gap National Assembly by-election, who had suggested that Kim Kwan-young was also a figure chosen by President Lee. "That was an irresponsible statement made without verifying the objective facts," Lee said. "It was, in effect, conduct harmful to the party. I think the day will come when he will have to take personal responsibility for it."