The ruling party and former leader Han Dong-hoon traded barbs over his paid talk concert.
Floor leader Han Byung-do of the Democratic Party of Korea said in a Facebook post on the 1st, referring to the former leader's talk concert, "While holding a talk concert, they say they will charge 79,000 won for R seats, 69,000 won for S seats, and 45,000 won for A seats," adding, "This is the first time I have seen such bizarre politics that grades supporters by seat class. Politics that should be aimed at the people has degenerated into a business."
Han said, "The high-priced, tiered seating talk concert that the former leader previewed is a 'ticket-selling business' to pick the pockets of supporters to raise political funds," adding, "Right now the People Power Party is marred by an unsightly power struggle between leader Jang Dong-hyeok and the former leader. People's livelihoods are not even a consideration, and this 'power intrigue,' with everyone hell-bent on protecting their own faction, is leaving deep scars on the hearts of all the people."
He added, "Stop this arrogant political business that treats the people as an audience and puts price tiers on politics immediately, and show some restraint."
Democratic Party spokesperson for the floor Kim Hyun-jung also held a press conference at the National Assembly's press room that afternoon, saying, "A bizarre and grotesque 'paid tiered politics' unprecedented in the history of Korean politics has emerged," and criticized, "It is appalling to see someone who even served as the head of a major party debase politics into a 'revenue model' for a personal comeback."
In response, the former leader said, "The floor leader of the ruling party seems very interested in the talk concert of an opposition politician who was expelled."
The former leader said, "I am not taking even 1 won from this talk concert under any pretext, so how do the words 'business,' 'trade,' and 'political funds' make any sense?" adding, "The real political trade, the real political business, is the Democratic Party's sale of nominations for bribes like a vending machine, as seen in the nomination-for-bribes dealings involving Kang Sun-woo, Kim Byung-kee, and Kim Kyung."
The former leader said, "The real political trade, the real political business, is the taking of congratulatory money from stakeholders by Democratic Party lawmaker Choi Min-hee, or the publication parties where a cash box is set out to collect premiums under the pretense of selling books, which are lined up one after another by Democratic Party politicians," and criticized, "It is brazen for the floor leader of the Democratic Party, who is blocking with all their might a special counsel on nomination bribes to investigate the worst political trade and political business—nomination bribes—to disparage as political trade and political business a talk concert from which I do not take even 1 won."
The former leader will hold a large-scale talk concert at Jamsil Indoor Gymnasium on the 8th. Online reservations for the talk concert, which began at 10 a.m. that day, sold out in 1 hour and 7 minutes.