PPP leader blasts president over 'silence' on recent controversies

The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) leader Jang Dong-hyeok on Tuesday took partisan shots at President Lee Jae Myung, accusing him of acting only in his own interest. 

"When it benefits him, the volume is turned all the way up. When it doesn't, he hits mute. If a television breaks, you can fix it. But there's no fixing a president's broken politics," Jang wrote on Facebook. "He stays silent whenever the situation is unfavorable for him. That's the trademark of Lee Jae Myung and this administration."

Jang also raised suspicions that Lee had played golf while the Navy was searching for a missing sailor.

"Did the president play golf while the Navy was searching for a missing service member? He won't answer this simple question," Jang wrote. "If a round of golf mattered more than a soldier's life, he is unfit to serve as commander in chief."

"That's why he can neither admit it nor deny it. He simply won't answer," he added.

A Navy sailor serving aboard a patrol vessel in the East Sea went missing early on Sunday and was found dead the next day.

Jang also accused Lee of remaining silent on other crucial social issues, namely the ballot shortages that affected the June 3 local elections.

"People were unable to vote because there were no ballots, yet the president has still not offered a proper apology," he said. "He insisted on launching a special counsel into the cancellation of his own trials, but turns a blind eye to calls for a special counsel on restoring voting rights."

He also criticized Lee's response to the volatile stock market and rising housing prices.

"He spoke loudly when stock prices were rising, as if they were his achievement. But when the market fell, there was no apology and no response," Jang said. "He boasted that dealing with housing prices would be easier than restoring a stream, yet he has gone silent as home prices surge to record levels."

Jang also referred to the Jang Yun-gi murder case in Gwangju, in which an investigator attempted a cover-up because the murder suspect’s father is a police officer.

"He loudly told officials to send police pizzas when they caught fake news that displeased him, yet he has gone completely silent over the Jang Yun-gi case," he said.

"Politics is about providing answers. A president should do his best to answer the public's questions, whatever they may be."

BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [[email protected]]