Presidential candidates Lee Jae-myung (left) and Yoon Suk-yeol shake each other`s hand before Friday`s TV debate. (Joint Press Corps)

Lee Jae-myung and Yoon Suk-yeol, the respective presidential candidates from Democratic Party and People Power Party, attacked each other over past scandals at the second TV debate held Friday, despite them being unrelated to the topic of debate.

While the debate arranged by the Journalist Association of Korea kicked off discussing policies for the young people in their 20s and 30s, Lee and Yoon dedicated much of their time to scandals surrounding each other, Lee attacked Yoon over allegations his wife engaged in stock price manipulation related to the import car dealership Deutsch Motors.

Yoon denied the allegations, and responded by bringing up the scandal related to an apartment development project in the Daejang-dong district Seongnam, of which Lee was mayor at the time.

While Yoon and Lee attacked each other, Sim Sang-jung, candidate of minor progressive Justice Party, cut them off saying “This should be a debate that discuss the needed policies for those in their 20s and 30s. This is not a time to attack each other.”

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)