Once 'Incheon Comrades' Song Young-gil and Lee Jeong-mi... "How Did It Come to This?"

Controversy Over Unification Truth... Justice Party Direct Rebuttal
"No Unification Discussions Even Informally"

Song Young-gil, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Lee Jeong-mi, leader of the Justice Party, who both have experience in labor movements based in the Incheon region during the 1980s, continue to engage in sharp conflicts regarding the recent presidential election unification issue. They were once "comrades in Incheon" in their youth, but their relationship has now changed into that of political rivals.

Former leader Song Young-gil made a remark ahead of the 5th anniversary of the late Roh Hoe-chan, former leader of the Justice Party, suggesting that "if Roh Hoe-chan were alive, unification would have happened," which drew criticism from the Justice Party. The Justice Party revealed behind-the-scenes details of the unification talks, stating that "the Democratic Party side never even proposed unification," turning the situation into one where Song ended up "giving with one hand and receiving with the other."

On the 26th, Lee Jeong-mi, leader of the Justice Party, stated on SBS's "Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show," "We thoroughly checked with the candidate and the campaign team members at the time regarding the statements made by former leader Song, and there was no such proposal."

Former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil paying respects at the grave of the late Roh Hoe-chan, former leader of the Justice Party.
[Photo by Song Young-gil]

On the 22nd, former leader Song posted on his social media, "If Roh Hoe-chan hyung were alive, the Democratic Party and the Justice Party would have unified during the last presidential election, stopped Yoon Seok-yeol's prosecutorial dictatorship, and formed a coalition government." On the same evening, on MBC's "News High Kick," Song also claimed, "I requested unification to candidate Sim Sang-jung at the time, but was rejected," shifting the responsibility for the election defeat onto the Justice Party's refusal to unify.

However, the Justice Party maintains that there was no unification proposal from the Democratic Party, even unofficially. When asked by the host whether there was no unofficial unification proposal, Lee responded, "Isn't it already well known through the media that, until just before candidate Ahn Cheol-soo unified with candidate Yoon Seok-yeol near the end of the presidential election, the Democratic Party also put considerable effort into unification with candidate Ahn?"

On the same day, Bae Jin-kyo, floor leader of the Justice Party, said on YTN's "News King with Park Ji-hoon," "I was the head of the election strategy headquarters and co-chair of the joint election campaign committee during the presidential election. There was no such discussion even unofficially within our party."

Jeongui Party leader Lee Jeong-mi is speaking at the Executive Committee meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of March 6. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Summarizing their statements, the Justice Party did not consider unification from the start and ran the presidential election independently, and the Democratic Party also did not make efforts to unify with the Justice Party. Former leader Song tried to shift the responsibility for the election defeat onto the Justice Party but ended up suffering a political backlash.

The Justice Party views Song's remarks as an attempt to shift the narrative to cover up the "cash envelope" allegations. Lee said, "It was a very intentional statement," adding, "He is under investigation due to the cash envelope allegations. In that process, he probably thought he needed various frames to defend himself."

Lee also pointed out, "As someone who has served as party leader, I feel quite saddened by the way he is recklessly throwing out stories here and there just to save himself."

She then left this message:

"(Former leader Song) recently even brought up the tablet PC issue. He is making statements that deny the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye, going so far as to say he must survive at all costs. This is shaking the very foundation of the Democratic Party. I wonder how it has come to this."