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Song Eon-seok, floor leader of the People Power Party and co-chair of the joint election committee, enters the National Assembly on the 18th to hold a press briefing on issues related to the June 3 local elections. Yonhap News

On the 19th, Kang Jun-hyun, chief spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea, said to People Power Party floor leader Song Eon-seok, “Are you going to do a Biden-nallimyeon season 2?” and “Apologize sincerely.”

At a press briefing this morning, Kang said, “On a day when it would not be enough even to honor the meaning of 5·18, floor leader Song said, ‘I won’t go because it’s dirty; who knows what might happen if I go to Gwangju,’” adding, “Whether it’s because it’s dirty or because he feels wronged, the problem is talking as if he were the victim and it were only natural not to go to Gwangju.”

Earlier, the People Power Party rebutted a media report that floor leader Song had said of his reason for skipping the 5·18 Democratization Movement commemoration ceremony, “I won’t go because it’s dirty,” by saying he had said, “Because I feel wronged.” The People Power Party stated the report was “completely untrue” and that it would take legal action.

Kang said, “Even the constitutional amendment to include 5·18 in the preamble could not be carried out because of the People Power Party. Do you really have the standing to invoke the spirit of Gwangju?” He added, “Sincerely acknowledging and apologizing is the appropriate step. What meaning is there in making roundabout excuses?”

Seo Wang-jin, floor leader of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, said at a Central Election Committee meeting that day, “Floor leader Song Eon-seok gave a brazen, blame-shifting outburst when asked whether he would attend the May 18 Gwangju commemoration, and now he is even making a ‘Biden nallimyeon’-style excuse in response to criticism,” adding, “True to the ‘Yoon again’ camp, it is remarkably consistent.” He continued, “The politics that blocks a 5·18 constitutional amendment and insults Gwangjuthat is precisely the politics we must bring to an end.”