Han Dong-hoon: “Oh Se-hoon is someone we should join forces with for a conservative victory”

[Financial News] Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon said on the 25th that Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is “someone we should join forces with as we work toward victory for the conservative camp.”
Appearing on KBS’s Sunday Diagnosis that day, Han was asked to assess “Oh Se-hoon the politician.” He called him “a very reasonable person” and made the remark above. Asked about the claim that he and Mayor Oh should join hands to broaden their appeal, Han said, “We have never let go of one another’s hands.”
Oh was acquitted on the 23rd in the second trial of the case involving allegations of proxy payment of Myeong Tae-gyun’s opinion-polling costs. Han said, “I said from the first trial that the ruling was problematic and had to be corrected on appeal, and it was corrected along the lines of the reasoning I had put forward.” He added, “I’m very glad about that.”
Responding to claims that a “traitor frame” persists among conservative supporters, Han said, “I have never betrayed the people. Isn’t that mostly what they say because I stopped martial law? But martial law has to be stopped, and I think I did what I had to do.” He added, “I’ll explain myself fully even to those who feel that way.”
In response to criticism that he, a former prosecutor, had failed to shed his prosecutor image, Han stressed, “A leader is someone who fights where the people believe a fight is necessary. In politics, I will deal with people who commit crimes the way a prosecutor would.”
Regarding the ruling party’s calls for an investigation into “allegations that his daughter had falsified her credentials,” Han said, “At its core, this is political retaliation and recycling the same issue for a third or fourth time.” He claimed, “When I called attention to the Democratic Party of Korea’s serious problems—including the poison-lobbying issue involving the older brother of Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won, the delayed investigation into North Korea’s land-mine attack in the DMZ, and strains in the South Korea-U.S. alliance—they cowardly began making false attacks on my children while I was abroad for a parliamentary audit, as part of an effort to attack me, the messenger.”
Han, a member of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, also expressed concern about the government’s foreign and security policies. He said, “During the parliamentary audit of South Korean diplomatic missions in the United States, a senior U.S. official came to the hotel specifically to see me, and we spoke at length. The official was extremely concerned, asking, ‘Is there a possibility that the Lee Jae-myung administration will unilaterally declare the transfer of wartime operational control, disregarding the U.S. position?’”
Regarding remarks by U.S. Forces Korea Commander General Xavier T. Brunson on wartime operational control, Han said, “He took a very strong position and made clear remarks. Commander Brunson was on the same plane as the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee when it traveled to Washington, D.C., for a parliamentary audit. His remarks were made after conferring with Washington.”
He added, “Brunson’s remarks should be viewed as close to the basic U.S. position. Belittling or attacking them as Brunson’s personal view means failing to face reality.”

[email protected] Lee Hae-ram Reporter