Following the money envelope scandal, the 'coin incident' involving Assemblyman Kim Nam-guk has shaken the Democratic Party of Korea, intensifying factional conflicts within the party. Meanwhile, violent acts by hardline fandoms against non-mainstream factions are also escalating. Non-Myeong (非明) faction lawmakers have revealed messages from hardline supporters and demanded that Representative Lee Jae-myung sever ties with the 'hardline fandom,' while the Pro-Myeong (親明) faction defends them, calling it a 'fallacy of generalization.'
On the 21st, Lee Won-wook, a non-Myeong Democratic Party lawmaker, posted on his social media service (SNS) messages from the so-called 'Gaeddal,' a hardline supporter group. The messages included insults such as "70% of the Democratic Party members are trash," calls to establish a new party to drive out the 'Subak,' and other claims. 'Subak' (meaning watermelon) is a derogatory term used to describe the non-Myeong faction, implying a difference between appearance and reality, and the messages contained explicit insults directly targeting them.
By revealing these messages, Lee questioned, "Can someone who sends messages like this be considered a proud member of the Democratic Party?" and pressured Representative Lee by asking, "After seeing this, don't you want to sever ties with the hardline fandom?" This is essentially a demand for Representative Lee to break away from the hardline fandom.
On the morning of the 22nd, on BBS's 'Jeon Young-shin's Morning Journal,' Lee said, "I thought we need to cut off extreme thoughts, so I decided to make this public," and reiterated his pressure on Representative Lee, saying, "The Democratic Party must sever ties with the hardline fandom, and the only way to do so is for those who benefit from the hardline fandom to make a decision and cut ties themselves."
Another non-Myeong faction lawmaker, Kim Jong-min, also pointed out the violence and threats by the hardline fandom against young politicians through social media on the same day, expressing concern that "Suppressing critical opinions within the party through violence and the party's neglect of this is something unimaginable during the Democratic Party under Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun."
He said, "Engaging in collective verbal abuse, hostility, hatred, insults, and threats just because someone holds different opinions is clear political violence. It cannot be disguised as political participation by enthusiastic party members," and called on the party leadership to take responsible action, urging them to investigate the reality of political violence directed at the university student committee and to stop it.
On the other hand, the Pro-Myeong faction dismissed the issue as an overgeneralization based on a few voices. Lee Kyung, the Democratic Party deputy spokesperson, said on SNS that "The opinion of one party member cannot represent the views of 5 million Democratic Party members," adding, "It is a logical fallacy to draw conclusions based on only a few cases or unrepresentative, uncertain data. The party leader should not be shaken by claims about the hardline fandom based on a single member's message."
Likewise, Hyun Geun-taek, deputy director of the Democratic Research Institute and a Pro-Myeong figure, said on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' that he had read the messages from the lawmaker and believed many party members would agree with parts of it. For example, the statement "Even if given 200 seats, if the majority are Subak, the Democratic Party is worse than the People Power Party," he said, "I agree with this. Many party members probably agree with this."
While the non-Myeong faction demands that Representative Lee sever ties with the hardline fandom, it remains uncertain whether he can realistically cut them off. There has been no significant response yet to the non-Myeong faction's demand for the resignation of the head of the 'Jaemyeong Village.' He also lacks control over his supporters. In March, Representative Lee appealed to his supporters, saying, "If you are a Democratic Party member and a supporter of Lee Jae-myung, please stop immediately and use that energy to fight against historical denial and anti-livelihood forces," but this appeal was not effectively heeded.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
