Jang Ye-chan "I never expected someone to openly tell Lee to step down..."
Democratic Party lawmaker An Min-seok stated that "people who have committed drunk driving, fraud, or infidelity should not be allowed anywhere near the party," prompting Jang Ye-chan, the Youth Supreme Council Member of the People Power Party, to sarcastically remark, "I highly appreciate the courage to directly point out Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party."
On the 3rd, Jang posted on his Facebook, saying, "Democratic Party lawmaker An Min-seok said, 'People who have committed drunk driving, fraud, or infidelity should not be allowed anywhere near the party; we need to drive a wedge in.' I 100% agree. I highly appreciate the courage to directly point out Lee Jae-myung, the leader, for drunk driving, fraud, and infidelity."
He continued, "I did not expect such an open call for Lee Jae-myung to step down," adding, "I believe that younger Democratic Party lawmakers will join this brave declaration by a five-term veteran."
Earlier that day, lawmaker An said on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "The weapon of progressivism is morality. The moment we lose the weapon of morality, we have no weapon to receive better evaluations from the public than the People Power Party," criticizing the Democratic Party at the center of the so-called 'money envelope scandal.'
He then called for party reform. He said, "People with prior convictions for drunk driving or fraud, and even those who committed infidelity and destroyed other families, are still presenting themselves to residents as candidates for upcoming elections," adding, "Allowing such people to run or giving them even a slight chance to run causes the public to have fatal doubts about the party's morality. Therefore, I believe the party must drive a wedge to prevent such people from running this time."
Meanwhile, Lee Jae-myung has prior convictions for false accusation and impersonation of a public official (2003, fined 1.5 million KRW), violation of the Road Traffic Act (drunk driving, 2004, fined 1.5 million KRW), damage to public property and obstruction of official duties (2004, fined 5 million KRW), and violation of the Public Official Election Act (2010, fined 500,000 KRW).
Additionally, in 2010, infidelity allegations surfaced following revelations by actress Kim Bu-seon. In 2018, Kim filed a complaint against Lee for violations including the Public Official Election Act, but the prosecution decided not to indict, judging that there was insufficient evidence to confirm a scandal between the two.
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