Lee Yong-woo: "Kim Nam-guk Issue Will Be a Touchstone Showing Lee Jae-myung's Leadership"

In the midst of reports that Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, opposed filing a complaint with the Ethics Committee against Representative Kim Nam-guk, who left the party amid suspicions involving billions of coins, Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yong-woo raised his voice, saying, "How this issue is handled will be a touchstone showing how the leader’s leadership is demonstrated."

On the 16th, on SBS's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show,' Lee said, "When a leader makes a decision, it should always be objective, and importantly, a decision involves giving up some things. A leader cannot take everything but must show the ability to choose what is important," expressing his view.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In response to the host's question, "Are you indirectly pointing out a problem with the leader’s attitude?" he said, "No, that is not the case."

The Democratic Party held a renewal caucus to discuss the money envelope suspicions and Kim’s coin issue and attempted to adopt a resolution. However, the phrase "filing a complaint against Representative Kim with the Ethics Committee," which was included in the initial draft, was removed from the final resolution, sparking controversy. Reports also emerged that the leader opposed filing the complaint with the Ethics Committee.

Lee explained the situation, saying, "The majority voiced that a complaint should be filed with the Ethics Committee. Especially, Representative Byun Jae-il, who was appointed as the Ethics Committee chair, was one of the strongest proponents of this. However, among those who did not speak, there seemed to be some dissent, questioning whether it was necessary to file a complaint with the Ethics Committee since the ruling party had already done so while Kim was out of the party."

Lee was also part of the Democratic Party’s fact-finding team, but with Kim’s departure from the party, there are evaluations that the fact-finding team has effectively disbanded. Regarding this, Lee said, "It has not disbanded. Since a search and seizure is currently underway, whether the investigation can proceed further or stop here depends on the level of cooperation," indicating that the fact-finding investigation could continue depending on Kim’s cooperation.

Lee criticized, saying, "(Kim) said in his statement upon leaving the party that it was 'to reduce the burden on the party.' If that is the case, he should contact us and cooperate by providing materials to clarify the facts in the investigation," adding, "Judging from the YouTube broadcast he appeared on yesterday, that broadcast was for his own claims and statements. The fact that he did this without contacting us raises moral issues."

In the previous day’s YouTube broadcast 'Kim Eo-jun’s News Factory,' Representative Kim claimed that the amount traded in the standing committee was only a few thousand won and that the allegations against him were "intentionally leaked to cover up the failures of the Yoon Seok-yeol government."