"Lee Jae-myung Is Not Subject to Article 80 of the Party Constitution"
Regarding the mass defection votes in the vote on the arrest motion of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, Kim Nam-guk, a pro-Lee lawmaker from the Democratic Party, raised his voice, saying "the defection votes were manipulated" and suggested that the party should consider deciding the approval or disapproval as the party's official stance in the next arrest motion vote.
On the 2nd, in response to the host's question on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' asking, "Should the approval or disapproval be decided as the party's official stance if another arrest motion comes up?" Kim said, "We can consider a recommendatory party stance."
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is seen conversing with fellow lawmakers after delivering a personal statement regarding the submission of a motion for his arrest at the plenary session held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 27th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@
He added, "Ultimately, the process of gathering the party's collective will is very important," and said, "It is necessary to communicate more deeply and sufficiently to gather the party's collective will and reach a conclusion so that defection votes like this time do not occur."
Previously, Kim stated that there was no need to set approval or disapproval as the party's official stance. However, he said the situation is different this time. Kim said, "Since it is a secret and voluntary vote, it is difficult to enforce (approval or disapproval), and it is not easy to later verify who voted against or for, so that itself was an unnecessary burden," adding, "But given the current situation, it is rather necessary to create a more intense process of forming the party's official stance, so we can consider some procedures for discussion."
He also revealed that the 'mass defection votes' indicated an organized movement. Kim said, "According to information confirmed through multiple lawmakers, several lawmakers received from one to as many as three calls asking to split invalid and approval votes in relation to the vote," and added, "I believe the defection votes were not made voluntarily by a few lawmakers but were organized votes."
This was not the lawmakers' autonomy but a power play by a specific faction to pressure Lee to resign. Kim said, "There is a problem in the legitimacy of the claim and the process of forming the opinion," and added, "There have been many reports about the motive behind gathering those organized votes. The anti-Lee faction told Lee to step down as party leader, but since Lee clearly expressed at a press conference that he would not resign, they showed a power play by passing the arrest motion."
He continued, "Is it right for a few lawmakers to claim 'Lee Jae-myung cannot be party leader' and demand he quit?" and criticized, "If they had such thoughts, they should have discussed and debated them during the process of gathering the party's collective will, but didn't all lawmakers say upfront that the motion should be rejected?"
In political circles, the prosecution is expected to indict Lee next week without detention regarding the Daejang-dong and Seongnam FC sponsorship fund allegations. If this happens, whether to apply Article 80 of the party's constitution, which states "If indicted, the duty is suspended," is expected to resurface. Regarding this, Kim said, "Applying Article 80 presupposes a judgment on whether it is a personal corruption case or not, but regarding this case, there is already a consensus among lawmakers and party members that it is a 'prosecutorial political purge investigation,' so it does not apply."
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