Jang Dong-hyeok again addresses Lee Jae Myung by first name; Park Ji-won calls him 'morally bankrupt'

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok has again held up a placard addressing President Lee Jae Myung in informal banmal speech, drawing criticism from across the political spectrum.

Jang attended a protest outside the handball arena at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Saturday, billed as a demonstration to "blockade the Jamsil vote-counting center." He held a sign reading: "Jae-myung, you saw it, right? You heard it, right? Then you have to accept a people's special prosecutor."

Earlier, on Tuesday, he had carried a placard reading: "Jae-myung, fight me instead of picking on high school students."

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ji-won pushed back on Sunday, writing on Facebook that the conduct was "going from bad to worse" and amounted to "moral depravity." Park said the phrase "I'm afraid children might see this" came to mind, and called Jang "a person whose mouth and character are in ruins." He urged Jang to use "at least the ordinary language of a common person, even if not the dignified language of politics," and said he was not asking for the courtesy due a head of state.

Criticism had also come from within the People Power Party itself.

Kim Geun-sik, the PPP's Songpa-byeong district committee chair, wrote on Facebook on Saturday that "no matter how wrong the president may be, 'Jae-myung' is not the language of politics — it is nothing but the verbal filth spewed by far-right thugs." He added that "no matter how angry I get, I do not mock the party leader by calling him 'Dong-hyeok,'" saying that restraint was "the dignity and depth of politics."

Yun Hui-seok, a former PPP spokesperson aligned with the Han Dong-hoon faction, said on Wednesday on MBC Radio's "Cho Seung-won's News High Kick" that the placards were "inappropriate," adding that he considered even calling the president by name alone a "derogatory term." He said that when someone makes an argument while mixing in a slur against a political opponent, "regardless of how reasonable the argument's content may be, it doesn't register — all you hear is the slur."