Lee Jae-myung's Hunger Strike Reexamined: "Hunger Strike Is the Last Means of Resistance for the Weak"

Park Dae-chul "Listen to Mayor Lee Jae-myung of Seongnam"
Kim Woong "'#LeeJaeMyungChangesHisWords'"
Han Dong-hoon "Does hunger strike stop the investigation?"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, declared an 'indefinite fast' to mark the first anniversary of his inauguration, stating that he would "start a popular uprising against the regime." In response, government and ruling party officials have revisited his past remarks to criticize him.

Lee once said in 2016, when he was mayor of Seongnam, that "fasting is the last means of resistance for the weak." The implication is that it is contradictory for the leader of the main opposition party, who is not weak, to choose fasting now.

On the 31st, Park Dae-chul, chairman of the Policy Committee of the People Power Party, shared a screenshot of Lee’s past social media post on his own social networking service (SNS), saying, "It would be good to listen to the words of 'Lee Jae-myung, Mayor of Seongnam,' who said that fasting by the strong is not resistance but a tantrum and threat."

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is on a hunger strike in front of the National Assembly main building on the 31st. At the press conference marking his first anniversary in office, he declared, "I will start a national resistance against the incompetent and violent regime," and began an indefinite hunger strike. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

On October 2, 2016, when Lee was mayor of Seongnam, he posted on SNS titled "The difference between Representative Lee Jung-hyun’s fasting and Mayor Lee Jae-myung’s fasting," stating, "Fasting is the last means of resistance for the weak. The mayor of Seongnam’s fasting against the president’s oppression of local autonomy is resistance, but the ruling party leader’s fasting because things don’t go his way is not resistance but a tantrum or threat."

In June 2016, Lee staged a fasting protest at Gwanghwamun Square in opposition to the government’s local finance reform plan. In October of the same year, Lee Jung-hyun, then leader of the Saenuri Party, fasted for five days, and Lee emphasized the difference between his own fasting and that of the ruling party, criticizing the ruling party.

The ruling party has used Lee’s logic from his time as mayor of Seongnam to criticize him. Policy Committee Chairman Park said, "The leader of the main opposition party, who wields a majority of seats as a weapon to engage in legislative dictatorship, is not weak but absolutely strong," adding, "If he dares to pretend to be weak, it would be an act of mocking the people." Applying Lee’s past logic, the fasting declaration can be read as nothing more than pretending to be weak.

Kim Woong, a member of the People Power Party, also shared a photo comparing articles highlighting Lee’s 2016 remarks and current fasting-related articles, quoting philosopher Derek Parfit’s words that "the present self and the future self can be accepted as different persons, and their relationship is like that between strangers." He also added the hashtag '#LeeJaeMyung_changes_his_words.'

On the same day, Han Dong-hoon, Minister of Justice, met with reporters at the National Assembly and recalled Lee’s past SNS remarks about fasting, saying, "'You shouldn’t fast just because things don’t go your way,' as Lee himself said." He criticized, "Is he fasting to resist investigations into personal corruption? It’s so out of context that I don’t know if the public will sympathize," adding, "If you commit theft or fraud or are summoned, will fasting make the investigation disappear?"