President Lee Jae Myung listens to remarks by attendees during a Cabinet meeting and emergency economic review session at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. (Yonhap) President Lee Jae Myung’s repeated appeals on Election Day for South Koreans to exercise their right to vote, delivered through a series of social media posts, triggered backlash from the opposition party on Wednesday.Lee had posted four times on X encouraging voter participation as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, as South Korea was holding local elections and by-elections for National Assembly seats.Lee pointed to the country’s excessively high housing and real estate prices as one factor behind the undervaluation of its stock market.“The Republic of Korea must break away from being a republic of real estate speculation, make a major transformation into a startup nation and develop into an indispensable core nation,” Lee said in the post, referring to South Korea by its official name.“Voter participation and the selection of competent and loyal public servants will create the Republic of Korea as a democratic republic that we can truly be proud to show the world.”In his third X post, Lee apparently refuted the main opposition People Power Party's claims that Lee’s previous X posts encouraging voters to head to the polls constituted “election interference.”“‘Let us elect competent and loyal workers. We must vote. The result of giving up on politics is being ruled by the worst kind of vulgar people’ is not something that can be considered election campaigning intended to benefit a specific candidate or political camp,” Lee wrote.“No one objects to former President Lee Myung-bak’s remark that ‘many citizens should vote’ or former President Park Geun-hye’s remark that ‘people must participate in voting.’ That is because those are correct statements,” Lee said, referring to two contemporary conservative presidents.Lee underlined, “For your own future and that of your families, do not give up on voting, and be sure to vote for competent and loyal workers.”The X post came after Rep. Park Sung-hoon, the People Power Party’s spokesperson, said, “Even on the morning when official voting for the local elections began, President Lee Jae Myung’s blatant attempts at election interference are almost pathetic to watch.”Another spokesperson for the main opposition party, Cho Yong-sool, criticized Lee for “engaging in crude vote-mongering.”In his second X post, Lee said South Korea can “advance beyond a fast-following nation into an indispensable core nation” only if people “do not give up on voting and choose competent and devoted workers.” Lee encouraged voter participation in a bid to make South Korea a country “where it is impossible to make money by committing illegal acts and harming others.”In his first X post on Election Day, Lee wrote, “As Plato said, have you voted to avoid being ruled by the worst kind of vulgar people?”Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok, chair of the People Power Party, denounced Lee's X posts via Facebook. Jang directly rebutted Lee’s first X post, arguing that “Plato was critical of democracy based on voting,” adding, “It seems that, in the eyes of vulgar people, only vulgar people are visible.”Jang mocked Lee’s second X post in a separate Facebook post, saying, “Lee Jae Myung taught us this: If you report corruption, you get a reward worth 20 to 30 percent!”“That is an enormous corruption scandal. I am reporting the Daejang-dong corruption scandal! I guess I’ll receive a reward of 250 billion won.”In a third Facebook post, Jang cited rising voter turnout, saying, “This is an angry vote and a judgment vote by the people to bring an end to the arrogance and tyranny of Lee Jae Myung and the Democratic Party.”