President Lee Jae-myung said on the 19th that the controversy stirred by his quoting of a post from a friend on X, formerly Twitter, was "regrettable and unfortunate in many respects."
Lee made the remark in a post on X late that night, saying he wanted to express regret if anyone had been hurt by other posts written by the author he had quoted.
He explained that it is not possible to check every past post and expression by an author when quoting someone on X. He also urged users who have connected with him on the platform to act as though "each of you is Lee Jae-myung, each of you is the president."
Lee said there is a saying that you can know a person by looking at their friends. "If the person the president is chatting and laughing with is someone who routinely hurls abusive language and derogatory slurs, how will the public see that president?" he said. He added that a harsh attitude from a presidential friend does not translate into broader support and sympathy, but ends up becoming material for hate campaigns against the president and a reason and pretext for criticism.
Lee had earlier shared a post cheering him on over his news conference the previous day, saying it was "a great comfort." The author of that post was then found to have used a derogatory term coined to disparage a rival faction within the Democratic Party of Korea, drawing criticism among his supporters.
