Democratic Party Re-elected Members Target Lee Jae-myung: "Election Defeat Responsible, Do Not Run in Party Convention"

De Facto Demand for Lee Jae-myung to Withdraw from the Race

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The Democratic Party lawmakers who are serving their second term urged that those who bear significant responsibility for the recent election defeat and those who have caused factional conflicts should not run in the party convention. This is interpreted as a demand for Lee Jae-myung, Jeon Hae-cheol, Hong Young-pyo, Lee In-young, and others not to run for party leader.

On the 22nd, Representative Song Gap-seok stated in a National Assembly briefing, “At the closed meeting of second-term lawmakers held today, ahead of the party convention on August 28, we gathered opinions on the convention based on a sober evaluation of the presidential and local elections.” He added, “We recognize that the eradication of factional politics is a core task and will strive to ensure that this convention does not become a power struggle,” and “We must also work to establish new leadership of innovation and unity through this convention.”

Representative Song said that this opinion reflects the stance of the majority of second-term lawmakers. After the briefing, he told reporters, “There are 48 second-term lawmakers in our party. After the meeting, 35 have responded in the group chat, of whom 34 agreed with the content and one expressed opposition. We have yet to receive responses from 13 members.” When asked if this statement represents the collective position of the second-term lawmakers, he replied, “It is the position of the majority of second-term lawmakers.”

When asked whether the “persons responsible for the presidential and local election defeats” referred to Representative Lee Jae-myung and others, he answered, “Through various evaluation processes, there has been much discussion about who holds greater responsibility for the presidential and local election defeats, and this has been made public. Due to concerns about the eradication of factional politics and the risk of factional confrontations, some individuals who have been mentioned previously seem to be included. It likely includes those individuals.”