Lee Jae-myung on 5th Day of Hunger Strike... Ruling Party Calls It "Tumbler and Teaspoon Fasting"

Ahn Byung-gil: "With Normal Fasting, It's Hard to Even Keep Your Balance"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, has started a hunger strike to mark his first anniversary in office, but the ruling party has expressed a critical view, suggesting that his hunger strike might be a 'hunger strike show.'

On the 3rd, Park Dae-chul, chairman of the Policy Committee of the People Power Party, wrote on his social media (SNS), "I heard that people with diabetes cannot endure more than 2-3 days of proper fasting, but the voice holding the microphone at the condemnation rally on the third day of the hunger strike is loud and strong. Whether it is due to great mental strength or the power of the unknown contents in the tumbler and teaspoon is unclear."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

It was reported that Lee was seen drinking the contents of a tumbler or eating something with a teaspoon during the hunger strike. The Democratic Party explained that the tumbler contained hot water and what was eaten with the teaspoon was salt.

Park, the Policy Committee chairman, raised his voice, saying, "‘Business trip hunger strike’ moving to downtown rallies, ‘commuting hunger strike’ sleeping in the leader’s office at night, ‘appearance avoidance hunger strike’ before prosecution investigations, and the newly coined ‘three-appearance hunger strike’," adding, "What the opposition party should be paying attention to now is not the party leader’s hunger strike tent but the meeting room."

Park Soo-young, head of the Yeouido Institute of the People Power Party, also posted a photo of a tumbler placed at Lee’s hunger strike site on his SNS, captioning it "These days’ hunger strike." This again raised the 'tumbler suspicion' raised by the ruling party.

Ahn Byung-gil, a member of the People Power Party, also pointed out on SNS, "He attended the Gwanghwamun rally on the third day of the hunger strike yesterday and presided over meetings. On the fourth day today, he is continuously meeting people in the tent," adding, "If it were a normal hunger strike, he would be too weak to even hold his body upright by now."

He referred to the cases in 2018 when Kim Sung-tae, floor leader of the Liberty Korea Party, went on a hunger strike demanding a special prosecutor for the ‘Druking’ scandal but was taken away by ambulance after eight days due to breathing difficulties and heart pain, and in 2019 when Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the Liberty Korea Party, was hospitalized in a coma after eight days of hunger strike in front of the Blue House. He criticized, "Recently, opposition party lawmakers including the Democratic Party who went on hunger strikes protesting Fukushima treated water came out walking even after longer hunger strikes."