On January 21, People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo said, “It is truly abominable how they are picking holes with the by-election candidate nominations and putting Yoon’s key aides at the front to accuse me of old-fashioned politics.” He also said, “I express my sincere regret on the unilateral termination of the agreement for me to join the election campaign, a long-awaited agreement which we had reached in a good mood.”

This day, Hong wrote these words on social media explaining his conflict with Yoon Seok-youl, the party’s presidential candidate, on the previous day over the issue of candidate nominations.

On Thursday, Yoon practically refused Hong’s request to nominate strategic figures for the by-election. Hong responded on social media on Friday and wrote, “The nature of the problem was in the offense he took in my request for him to improve his ability to manage state affairs and to take stern action against the corruption in his wife’s family.” He added, “He couldn’t criticize me for that,” and argued that Yoon opted to pick holes with his candidate recommendations instead, putting his key aides in front to accuse Hong of being a stick-in-the-mud. He added, “This is truly abominable.” He explained, “I made the candidate recommendations without any prior discussions for him,” and said, “It was pathetic,” how Yoon was being used by people trying to maliciously use Hong’s recommendations as a means to condemn him.

Aiming at Yoon’s aides who criticized Hong for engaging in old-fashioned politics, Hong said, “Anyone can present their opinions on the candidate nomination, and there is nothing wrong as long as it is handled according to a reasonable procedure. But if they find fault with that and try to guard the feelings of the candidate, how do they plan on seeing the presidential race to the finish?” He also asked, “Am I a person to sell my beliefs for two candidate nominations? Are the people I recommended inadequate?”

Lawmaker Hong expressed his sincere regret on the fact that the agreement for him to join the party’s election campaign was unilaterally broken, despite that the long-awaited agreement was reached in a good mood.

This day, Hong also wrote on social media, “No matter how people criticize that politics has become a mud fight, if he exposes and manipulates a discussion on party issues between two people as an old-fashioned request for candidate nominations, how can we discuss state affairs?” and criticized, “No matter how I think about it, I don’t think it is right to evade the nature of the problem by framing candidate recommendations made in a pleasant atmosphere to help the presidential election into a condition for me to join the election campaign and criticizing discussions on strategies for the presidential election as being obsolete.”

Earlier on January 19, Hong had a dinner meeting with Yoon. The next day, a press report disclosed that Hong had asked Yoon to nominate Choe Jae-hyeong, former chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, and Lee Jin-hoon, former chief of the local government in Suseong-gu, Daegu, as candidates for the by-elections in Jongno, Seoul and Jung, Nam-gu Daegu, respectively, as a condition for him to join Yoon’s election campaign as a senior advisor. On January 20, Yoon met with reporters and said, “I have no intention to personally intervene in candidate nominations. I have set a principle to follow the standards set by the Candidate Nomination Committee,” and practically refused Hong’s request. That same day, Kwon Young-se, head of the election campaign, and Lee Yang-soo, the camp’s senior spokesperson, also criticized Hong for engaging in “old-fashioned” politics. Hong showed his irritation using the word “impertinent” revealing conflicts with Yoon.