'Rough Attitude of President's Friends, an Obstacle to Reform and Unity'

[Anchor]

President Lee Jae-myung has once again urged supporters of the ruling bloc to refrain from using hate speech. Calling his supporters "the president's friends," he said, "A rough attitude does not help reform and unity."

Reporter Kang Min-u reports.

[Reporter]

The title of the post President Lee Jae-myung shared on social media last night (September 19) was "The President's Friends."

Addressing his supporters, he wrote, "I ask you to act thinking of yourselves as the president," adding, "The rough attitude of 'the president's friends' does not expand support and empathy, but rather becomes a pretext for criticizing the president."

He emphasized that escalating conflicts through derogatory terms and hate diminishes allies, increases enemies, and ultimately does not help reform and unity, but rather raises obstacles.

Two days ago (September 18), President Lee quoted a supporter's post on social media and subsequently deleted it after controversy arose over the supporter's past use of derogatory slurs against figures such as Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's Innovation Policy Research Institute, and writer Rhyu Si-min. President Lee also expressed that he found the situation regrettable and unfortunate.

President Lee explained that he cannot verify every past post and expression, and that quoting a written text itself does not mean supporting or defending all arguments made by the author.

[National Press Conference (September 18) : "It is truly heartbreaking to see someone who dreamed of a better world and took action being singled out for exclusion, hurt, and in pain."]

Director Cho stated, "In accordance with the intent of President Lee's post, I ask politicians and citizens who identify as pro-Lee to cease the 'politics of derogatory slurs.'" Writer Rhyu compared the issue of derogatory terms to a "pebble in a shoe," arguing that President Lee failed to diagnose it as it truly is.

[Writer Rhyu Si-min / YouTube video 'Tak Hyun-min's The Beautiful' : "You have to take it (the pebble) out before moving forward. You must take it out and shake it off, but instead of recognizing that a pebble got in, it seems to be in a state of merely thinking, 'This is uncomfortable,' and leaving it at that."]

As President Lee Jae-myung continues to issue messages calling for harmony among pro-government politicians and supporters day after day, attention is focused on whether he will present measures to bridge divides over pending issues, including personnel appointments.

(Video by Ha Ryung | Video Editing by Lee Seung-hee | Graphics by Cho Su-in)

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