Sang-min Lee on 'Jae-myung Lee Resignation Theory'... Young-jin Kim: "Cold or Cancer Surgery?"

"5-term National Assembly Member, I Must Reflect on What I Have Done"

Lee Sang-min, a five-term senior member of the Democratic Party of Korea, raised the issue of Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung's resignation, saying "It will be difficult to secure the party nomination next year if things continue like this." In response, Kim Young-jin, the party leader's political affairs coordinator, dismissed the idea as "performing cancer surgery for a cold."

On the 24th, Kim said on YTN's 'News King with Park Ji-hoon,' "The diagnosis and prescription must be clear. When you have a cold, you prescribe cold medicine, and when you have cancer, you need surgery," expressing this view.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 19th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Earlier, on the 22nd, Lee stated on YTN Radio, "It is inappropriate for Leader Lee to hold and carry out the party leadership while facing judicial risks. It is right for him to resign from the leadership position."

However, Kim said, "If you have a cold but undergo cancer surgery, wouldn't the person die? Politics is the same," adding, "A prescription matching the diagnosis and measures based on such investigations are necessary, so this seems like an excessive claim."

He continued, "Those people seem to have fallen into the swamp of the logic they advocate," and "As a five-term lawmaker myself, I think it is necessary to first consider what I should do and raise issues."

This is interpreted as meaning that senior member Lee is focusing more on attacking the leader rather than finding solutions. Kim said, "It is time to create wisdom for joint solutions," adding, "Falling into the swamp of such logic or the swamp of broadcasting and repeating the same claims will not greatly help overcome the current crisis. More wisdom as a multi-term lawmaker is needed."

Within the party, voices calling for the abolition of the delegate system as part of Democratic Party reform are emerging. Regarding this, Kim said, "In the course of various developments in the money envelope scandal, the equivalence between the past 15,000 delegates and 1.2 million party members is questionable. So, the purpose is to examine the issue of vote equivalence and equality," adding, "It can be seen as one of the major issues among various matters and discussed."

Regarding the hardline fandom issue raised mainly by the non-Lee faction, the Democratic Party recently expelled a party member who sent abusive text messages to non-Lee faction lawmakers. Kim explained, "Because there is freedom of expression in democracy, their claims are legitimate, but they should be transformed into constructive criticism without personal insults, abusive language, or slander," adding, "However, the party authorities will take firm action against acts that cross that line. This is Leader Lee's position."