Park Ji-won: “The Democratic Party will never accept Lee Jun-seok”

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ji-won has drawn a firm line under speculation that former Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok could join the Democratic Party.

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The Democratic Party will never accept Lee Jun-seok.

Speaking on YTN radio on the 31st, Park said, “The Democratic Party will never accept Lee Jun-seok.” He said he had grown close to Lee through joint television appearances and had once told him he could become “Korea’s Kennedy” if he performed well.

Park added that Lee had been saying too much lately. Although he said he hoped Lee would succeed, Park questioned whether the Democratic Party would readily accept him and said Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok was unlikely to support such a move.

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You could become Korea’s Kennedy if you do well.

The speculation followed Lee’s resignation as Reform Party leader on the 26th. Lee stepped down after taking responsibility for the party’s defeat in the June 3 local elections. Some YouTube commentators had discussed the possibility of Lee joining the Democratic Party and a merger between the two parties.

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I hope he does well, but he is not someone who will come to the Democratic Party.

Lee rejected those claims on Facebook on the 30th. He said he planned to take legal action against all 80 broadcast panelists who had discussed the possibilities, calling the reports false and saying there had been no basis for them.

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I have decided to take legal action for spreading false information against all 80 broadcast panelists who talked for several days about me joining the Democratic Party or the Reform Party merging with it.