President responds after sharing netizen's post asking whether he would apologize

President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung said Wednesday that while some people advocate prosecution reform out of genuine concern for the country, others exploit the issue for hidden political or personal ends — pushing extreme positions that ultimately obstruct real reform.

Lee made the remarks after sharing a post by a netizen past midnight that day. The netizen had written: "Aren't you going to apologize for branding critics of your prosecution-reform stance as 'Mugeukpa' who mislead the public, or as 'forces obstructing state affairs' spreading falsehoods? Why haven't you apologized for such irresponsible and extreme smears?"

The comments appeared aimed at hard-liners within the ruling camp who have criticized the pace of prosecution reform as falling short of expectations.

"Riding the anxious and desperate reform aspirations of some citizens, stoking fears of reform failure, posturing as the only true reformer, agitating with an 'all-or-nothing' approach, attacking allies who are genuinely trying to carry out reform, and steering the effort toward failure — that is irresponsible extremism," Lee said.

He then addressed the netizen directly, saying, "If you don't belong to that group, you have no reason to be offended. If you feel upset because you think you do, I would encourage you to reflect on that."

Meanwhile, Lee also commented Wednesday on a media report about remarks he made Tuesday regarding the employment of domestic and foreign workers.

In a post on X, Lee said there is a significant difference between the phrase "'not helpful'" — as it appeared in the article's headline — and "'not very helpful,'" which was what he actually said at the Cabinet meeting. "Even within the same article, the headline and the body say different things," he wrote. "I trust that, as a news outlet committed to principled reporting, you will correct the article and issue an apology."

At the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Lee had been discussing public-sector jobs when he said: "We need to revitalize agriculture, forestry, livestock and fisheries across the board. Bringing in foreign workers does not greatly help the national economy — because all the wages get sent back home."

One outlet ran a story under the headline "'Foreign workers not helpful to national economy' — criticism mounts over President Lee's remarks," reporting that migrant worker groups and others had pushed back. Lee's post on X directly took aim at that headline.


sang@heraldcorp.com