Lee Jae-myung defends 'xie xie' comment after 'pro-China' accusation

The Democratic Party of Korea's presidential candidate Rep. Lee Jae-myung defended Sunday comments made Tuesday, arguing that labeling him "pro-China" was "very inappropriate."

Lee was speaking in response to a question during a televised debate about his controversial remarks earlier on the campaign trail that he would say "xie xie" (thank you) to both China and Taiwan in the event of a contingency between the two countries.

"What I said is that we have to make every decision based on our national interests, and we must keep our distance from a China-Taiwan contingency, if such a crisis should occur. We can get along with both China and Taiwan," Lee said.

"The pro-China label is very inappropriate."

Lee went on, "You can't make up an extreme scenario and force an extreme decision. We have to respond flexibly based on a given situation, and of course the principle guiding that decision would be whether it would in our national interests."

Lee said in a brief of his top policies that if he is elected president, he would make his policy decisions to "serve national interests" on diplomatic and trade fronts.