Lee Jun-seok’s controversial racism: Lee Won-wook calls it “a return of hate politics”

Ihn Yo-han, head of the People Power Party’s innovation committee, attended a “talk concert” hosted by former party leader Lee Jun-seok and former lawmaker Lee Un-ju at Kyungsung University in Busan on November 4. Yonhap News

Former leader of the People Power Party (PPP) Lee Jun-seok is under fire for racist behavior after he addressed Ihn Yo-han, chief of the party’s innovation committee, as Mr. Linton, and spoke in English. Lee protested that he was being considerate of Ihn, making an effort to accurately convey the nuance of his words, but voices claiming he went too far by speaking in English refuse to die down.

On November 6, Democratic Party of Korea legislator Lee Won-wook wrote a post on social media titled, “Is this a return of Lee Jun-seok’s hate politics?” and criticized the former PPP leader writing, “I think the way Lee indirectly insulted a person, already Korean, shows an attitude that is divisive and hateful.”

Lee continued and wrote, “He (Ihn) is more familiar using Korean than English. South Korea is his home,” and added, “Intentionally speaking in English to such a person and addressing him as Mr. Linton was a deliberate gesture to show that Ihn Yo-han is still a foreigner and not a Korean.”

Lee went on to state, “The reason Lee is not a great politician is not because of President Yoon and his followers. It is because of a politics that encourages hate, a politics of division,” and “If he cannot overcome such a politics, he will never be able to advance toward the parliamentary elections or the presidential election. He should quickly and politely apologize to Ihn.”

Justice Party spokesperson Lee Jae-rang also said in a press briefing Monday, “An individual may be free to voice his criticism of the innovation committee, but his attitude was truly disrespectful.” “He is a Korean. He has lived long in South Korea and is already fluent in Korean. Going through the trouble to address him by his English name and responding to him in English was a blatant act trying to alienate him as a foreigner. Underrating an opponent’s Korean skills just because he is of a different race is a racist attitude,” he added.

The Justice Party spokesperson also said, “He (Lee Jun-seok) may have his differences with Ihn and he could particularly be very critical of Ihn’s actions, but that cannot be the grounds to justify his racist attitude.” “When dealing with our political differences, we must not go so far as to reject the opponent as a member of a democratic republic. We in politics must not tolerate such an openly racist attitude.”

Gwak Dae-jung, spokesperson for New Choice, a party led by former lawmaker Geum Tae-seop, wrote on social media Sunday, “Our nation is a multiethnic country,” and asked, “If one did not use the official language to someone who has become one of our citizens and, just to that person, used his ethnic language, if he insisted on doing so, wouldn’t that be a form a racism?” He further argued, “If the other person was unskilled in the official language, we could say that he was trying to be polite. But if he did that to someone skilled in the language, it is a base expression of hatred, conveying the message, ‘I cannot accept you as a citizen of our country,’” and asked, “Wouldn’t this be something to present to the UN Human Rights Commission as hate speech?”

“He probably wasn’t trying to show off his English because he graduated from Harvard, and it probably wasn’t just racism either,” said the conservative attorney, Jun Won-tchack, in an interview on MBC News Oijeon (supplementary) Monday, further arguing, “This is insulting a human being. He just went way too far. There’s basically a problem with his character.”

Na Jong-ho, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University wrote on social media Monday, “It is deeply concerning that the most influential young politician in Korea at this time displayed an awareness of that level and engaged in such behavior, and to think of the message such actions convey to potential immigrants.” “We must constantly criticize such behavior to show that the action taken by the individual does not represent our society,” he added.

On Sunday, Dr. Na also said, “If an influential U.S. politician was sarcastic and in a public place, spoke Korean to a second-generation Korean American just because he was Korean, he would be expelled that very day,” and added, “He (Lee Jun-seok) is not qualified as a politician and should publicly apologize.”

Earlier on November 4, when Ihn Yo-han made a surprise appearance at a “talk concert” in Busan, Lee Jun-seok said in English, “Am I a patient? The real patient is in Seoul,” adding, “You should try and talk to him. He needs help.”

In a video on his own YouTube channel, Yeouido Rebuilding (@y.rebuilding) on Monday, Lee said, “If I spoke in English with the intention to insult him, I would have spoken only in English. “I spoke with his (Ihn) language proficiency in mind, and it’s ludicrous to call that racist bias,” he added. Ihn was born in Suncheon, Jeollanam-do and was the first special naturalized citizen in recognition of his contributions to the Republic of Korea.