Approval Ratings Plummet: Ruling Party Goes All Out to Block Lime and Optimus Suspicions

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending the floor leaders' meeting held at the National Assembly on the 16th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The wave of suspicions involving ruling party figures in the Lime and Optimus scandals continues unabated. Especially as these incidents directly impact party approval ratings, both ruling and opposition parties are mobilizing all their forces to engage in fierce disputes.

On the 16th, Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, stated at the floor leaders' meeting held at the National Assembly regarding the Lime and Optimus scandals, "They say not to set any sacred zones and to actively investigate, yet refuse to accept the establishment of a special prosecutor or special investigation team," and sharply questioned, "Why do ruling party leaders such as Representative Lee Nak-yeon, Minister Choo Mi-ae, and floor leader Kim Tae-nyeon keep preemptively labeling this as a financial fraud case and issuing guidelines day after day?"

Floor leader Joo emphasized, "We must no longer downplay this incident. Even the Blue House Civil Affairs Office has been implicated with text messages saying 'they are all my people.' If this is not a power-type gate, then what case qualifies as a power-type gate?" He added, "The president should say there are no sacred zones in the investigation, not just ask for cooperation, but order the formation of a special investigation team and call for a special prosecutor to investigate. Only then can this case be thoroughly resolved."

Lee Nak-yeon, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader, are attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 14th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

The Democratic Party leadership did not specifically comment on the Lime and Optimus scandals that day but still defines the case as a 'financial fraud committed by criminals.' Hong Ik-pyo, head of the party's think tank, the Democratic Research Institute, pointed out the day before, "To call it a power-type gate, it must be confirmed that the president or someone close to the president, such as a key figure or relative, was involved to gain private benefits," and added, "At this stage, there are many logical flaws in immediately calling it a power-type gate."

In particular, the ruling party appears to be mobilizing all its forces, with not only the floor leader but also the Supreme Council members and the head of the Democratic Research Institute stepping forward. This is because the incident inevitably affects party approval ratings. In fact, in a party approval poll released the previous day by Realmeter, the Democratic Party recorded 31.3%, and the People Power Party 30.2%. The gap between the two parties' approval ratings narrowed to 1.1 percentage points, falling back within the margin of error (±2.5 percentage points) after two weeks. The party approval ratings, which had withstood previous setbacks such as allegations of preferential military service for Minister Choo Mi-ae's son and the civil servant murder case, ultimately could not hold up in the face of suspicions involving the Lime and Optimus scandals.

Meanwhile, despite the ruling party's active defense, the controversy is expected not to subside easily. It was additionally revealed that Minister Jin Young and a Democratic Party lawmaker, A, invested 500 million won and 100 million won respectively in the Optimus fund. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Minister Jin invested 100 million won in his name in February this year, and his spouse and eldest son each invested 200 million won, totaling 500 million won in the Optimus fund. Lawmaker A invested 100 million won in Optimus but was confirmed to have redeemed the investment and recovered the funds.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.