Criticism mounts over Lee's tribute to late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon

President Lee Jae Myung drew criticism Sunday after posting on X, formerly Twitter, a tribute to the late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, describing him as someone who had taught him the importance of communication.

Kim Jin-ju (a pseudonym), a writer and victim of the so-called Busan spinning-kick assault case, responded to Lee on X that day. "Now he's inflicting secondary harm. I can't watch this anymore — it's too disgusting," she said.

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon also weighed in on Facebook the same day, criticizing Lee directly. "President Lee Jae Myung — a sitting South Korean president must not publicly glorify former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, a man who committed an abuse-of-power sex crime, never apologized to his victim, and died by suicide," Han wrote. "I genuinely believe this is wrong, and I urge him to come to his senses."

Justice Party Spokesperson Kim Na-yul also issued a statement condemning the post. "The entire nation witnessed a president glorify a perpetrator of power-based sexual violence simply to justify his own way of communicating on social media," Kim said. "I am outraged by this blatant act of secondary harm — the country's most powerful official publicly honoring an abuser."

Kim went on to say, "Do not sacrifice the dignity of a sexual violence victim to defend your own communication style. Retract the remarks and bow your head in apology to the victim for the secondary harm you have caused."

Earlier that day, Lee had written on X: "I find myself thinking of the late Mayor Park Won-soon. He was a man of brilliant ideas who always emphasized and delighted in communicating with citizens — someone who showed me the importance of communication and of social media as a tool for it."

Lee also shared an anecdote about a past exchange with Park in which the two had discussed on social media how to handle abusive and profane comments.