Opposition Floor Leader Candidate Intends to Run: "If Iwonwook Is There, Integration Will Happen"
On the 30th, Lee Won-wook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who announced his intention to run for floor leader, expressed, "If someone like Lee Won-wook is included, it truly means that a unified leadership has been formed, and it will be a leadership that people can fully agree is well balanced."
On the same day, Lee appeared on SBS Radio's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' and said, "Leader Lee Jae-myung also reorganized party positions to include non-Lee factions. He judged that having a single voice solely loyal to Lee Jae-myung like now would not work, and that diverse voices need to be heard."
Lee, considered part of the non-Lee faction, has criticized Leader Lee and received attacks such as text message bombings from the strong supporter group known as 'Gaeddal'. Regarding this intense fandom phenomenon, Lee said, "A general fandom is naturally necessary," but emphasized, "Some very abusive and violent language is rampant, and political hooligans attacking party members must disappear."
Lee stated that the protest demonstrations by strong supporters recently held in front of his home and local office have ceased following a request for restraint from Leader Lee, adding, "(The leader's message) had the greatest effect. When there were one-person protests, many passersby criticized, asking why they were doing that."
Regarding the claim by fellow party member Kim Nam-guk that 'Gaeddal is a frame created by conservative media and the ruling party,' Lee rebutted, "Kim probably has never received aggressive, violent texts or calls from Gaeddal." He continued, "There are really unspeakable, hard-to-publicize abusive messages. Saying that we 'endure' that is truly absurd."
On the conflict between the pro-Lee and non-Lee factions within the party, he said, "I have never directly called for Leader Lee's resignation." However, he added, "It definitely seems necessary to interpret personal issues and party issues somewhat separately," and said, "The problem is that all party leadership is focusing only on judicial risks. With the party's image being justified as a shield party, it cannot show the party's future vision going forward."
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