YOON SEOK-YOUL MEETS WITH PPP OFFICIALS

[Anchor Lead]

Now, news from the opposition bloc. Former Prosecutor General and leading presidential hopeful Yoon Seok-youl last week joined the People Power Party, with no party leaders present. He formally met with the party’s leadership and officials on Monday. But some of his recent remarks stirred controversy.

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Yoon Seok-youl met with the leadership of the People Power Party for the first time since he joined the main opposition last Friday.

[Soundbite] Lee Jun-seok(PPP Chairman) : "As you have become our family member, we now stand for unity together. This is great."

He also met with other party officials to broaden his footing in the main opposition party. However, his controversial remarks drew greater attention than these political moves. First, an interview he had about two weeks ago has now come into the spotlight.

[Soundbite] Yoon Seok-youl(PPP Preliminary Pres. Candidate(Interview with Maeil Business Newspaper, Jul. 18)) : "If it is not that people get sick or die from eating them, it would be necessary to allow poorer people to choose foods even cheaper than fast food."

Yoon faced backlash from both the ruling and opposition camps. Presidential hopefuls of the ruling party strongly denounced him and questioned his views. They asked him if he really believes it is OK for people to eat junk food while working 120 hours a week. Former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min, a PPP heavyweight, questioned Yoon’s intention. He asked if Yoon meant that regulations on unhealthy food should be eased to allow poorer people to eat them. The ex-top prosecutor rejected the criticisms, calling them a distortion of his remarks. He said he meant to point out that excessive regulations limit options for the public. Another controversy surfaced surrounding his remarks on Korea's low birthrate and feminism he made in a meeting with first-term PPP lawmakers.

[Soundbite] Yoon Seok-youl(PPP Preliminary Pres. Candidate) : "I heard that feminism has been abused politically, emotionally discouraging women from dating and building healthy relationships with men."

The DP criticized him for promoting hatred and prejudice against women. A senior PPP official expressed concern over Yoon’s remarks, saying each of them can be considered a crisis factor and that he needs to use refined expressions. To preemptively manage potential crises, the PPP plans to set up a team tasked with verifying its presidential hopefuls and provide accurate information about them.