A group of female labor leaders strongly criticized liberal commentator Rhyu Si-min for making derogatory remarks about the wife of conservative People Power Party(PPP) presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo.

At a press conference on Friday, the women—who have been affiliated with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU)—accused Rhyu of exposing a crude view of women and a sense of elitism rooted in academic background.

Seol In-suk, former deputy chair of the FKTU's women's committee, called on Rhyu to immediately apologize to Kim's wife, Seol Nan-young, and to all working women in Korea for what she described as vulgar personal attacks and demeaning behavior.

She emphasized that Rhyu’s remarks were not just a slip of the tongue, but revealed a deeper belief that a woman’s status is merely an extension of her husband’s and that people should be judged by their educational background.

Rhyu, a former student democracy activist and two-term lawmaker who served as the health minister under the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration, stirred controversy after personally attacking Kim's wife, saying she was "out of her mind."

While appearing on a leftist YouTube channel on Wednesday, Rhyu said that Seol, as a former high school-graduate labor activist, could have never become a presidential candidate’s wife if she hadn’t married Kim, a graduate from Seoul National University.