Justice Party says President Lee Jae-myung's remarks amount to 'secondary victimization' of Park Won-soon

The Justice Party harshly criticized President Lee Jae-myung, calling his post mourning former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon 'clear secondary victimization.' 'Secondary victimization' refers to words or actions that inflict further harm on victims of sexual violence. On the 11th, President Lee recalled on X (formerly Twitter) that the former mayor was 'the person who reminded me of the importance of communication and of social media as its means,' and shared an anecdote about how they once discussed ways to deal with abusive and profane comments on social media. As the president himself recounted the anecdote, the issue of Park's abuse-of-power sex crime resurfaced.

Justice Party spokesperson Kim Na-yul pointed out in a statement the same day, 'I am enraged that the holder of the highest power in South Korea has openly honored an abuser in an act of clear secondary victimization.' He said, 'The entire nation has witnessed a president who goes so far as to glorify a perpetrator of abuse-of-power sexual violence just to justify his own style of social media communication,' adding, 'Do not sacrifice the dignity of victims of sexual violence to defend your own way of communicating.'

Spokesperson Kim noted that 'the former mayor's abuse-of-power sex crime was confirmed through an investigation by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and a court ruling,' and retorted, 'While reminiscing about Park Won-soon, did the victims of his abuse-of-power sexual violence not come to mind?' He went on to urge, 'Withdraw the remarks and bow your head in apology to the victims for the secondary victimization you have committed.'

Meanwhile, Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Power Party posted on Facebook on the 11th, calling the president's X post 'clear secondary victimization' and demanding it be deleted immediately along with an apology, while independent lawmaker Han Duck-soo also argued that President Lee should not openly venerate the former mayor.