The rivalry between leading Democratic Party(DP) presidential contenders Lee Jae-myung and Lee Nak-yon is deepening. 

In a JoongAng Ilbo interview published last Friday, Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung said he rooted for Lee Nak-yon when he ran for the chairmanship at the party convention last year. He even hoped for Lee Nak-yon to win the presidential election, thinking the former party chief had a better chance with high public support at the time.

The governor then said the ancient kingdom of Baekje, which was in the Jeolla region, was never the main agent of uniting the Korean Peninsula, which would make the former prime minister’s election win historical.

However, Gov. Lee changed his position in light of the importance of a ruling party win in the election, saying “expandability” would be a key issue for victory in an apparent reference to his current leading position in the DP primaries. 

The ex-prime minister's camp replied on Saturday that the governor is inciting regionalism, to which Gov. Lee said it is as if he gave rice cakes, but was then slapped on the cheek. 

The former prime minister's spokesperson said in a statement that what the governor wants to say is that former Prime Minister Lee is from the Jeolla region, which makes him unfit to be the DP candidate. 

Former Prime Minister Lee even responded on Facebook, saying the governor’s "slip of the tongue" called into question the expandability of a candidate from the Jeolla region.