"Electing Members of the National Assembly to Stop People from Making Money"
Kim Jong-min, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) from the Bimyeong (非明) faction, expressed regret over the voices saying "let's understand because they are enthusiastic party members" regarding the violent behavior of the so-called 'Gaeddal' (strong fandom). He said, "Moral sensitivity is not what it used to be."
On the 30th, Kim said on YTN's 'News King Park Ji-hoon' program, "If we look at it broadly, the sensitivity to democracy is not like the old Democratic Party. It is not like before. And moral sensitivity is also not like before."
He pointed out, "For example, regarding such violent behavior, the atmosphere of 'these are enthusiastic party members, so let's just overlook it and understand it' still remains within our party. This lack of decisiveness, not drawing a line, is a state where the Democratic Party's sensitivity to democracy is really collapsing now." He added, "Regarding money envelopes, responses like 'it's for gas money, for meals, we used to do this a lot in the past' have come out within our party. This is something unimaginable for the Democratic Party in the past."
Kim said, "Since 1995, there has never been a similar incident like money envelopes in our party's elections," and criticized, "Regarding the Kim Nam-guk coin incident, I was really surprised to hear people say, 'Is there a law that says lawmakers can't make money?' We elected lawmakers to not make money."
He said, "If you try to make money, you cannot devote yourself to legislative activities. In that process, there is a temptation to use the tremendous power of my budget authority and legislative authority," and added, "Those who say lawmakers have the freedom to make money need to study democracy again."
Kim said the cause of the disappearance of democracy within the party is being out of touch with the people's expectations. He said, "Why did this happen? Because we are out of touch with the people's expectations," and added, "We keep looking at the situation only from our perspective, our supporters' perspective, our party members' perspective, and also from the perspective of our leader Lee Jae-myung and these enthusiastic party members, so we are continuously out of touch with the people's expectations."
Regarding the remarks made by Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Yong-min at last week's party meeting, saying "There is no need to protect young people. Isn't Kim Nam-guk also young?" Kim Jong-min said, "I was surprised. I felt that the Democratic Party's sensitivity to democracy is really in a serious state, a crisis situation," and added, "Just because they are young and a bit lacking, we should protect them. That is not it. We must respect other voices within us, whether right or wrong, speaking out. That is the Democratic Party. That is democracy."
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