Hong Jun-pyo: "Kim Jong-in's Public Apology is the Gateway to Becoming the Ruling Party's Second Faction" vs. Kim Geun-sik: "Blocking the Apology is the Real Second Faction"

Hong Jun-pyo "If Principles and Justification Are Lost, Politics Head Toward Ruin"
Kim Geun-sik "Party Surrendered to Taegukgi Hardliners and Fraudulent Impeachment Claims"

Independent lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo is holding an emergency press conference at his constituency office in Suseong-gu, Daegu on the 20th of last month. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Ju-hyung] The internal strife within the opposition party is deepening over Kim Jong-in, the Emergency Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, announcing his intention to issue a public apology for the imprisonment and guilty verdicts of former Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye.

Hong Joon-pyo, an independent lawmaker and former leader of the Liberty Korea Party (formerly People Power Party), criticized Kim's apology intention on the 7th, calling it "the final gateway to becoming the ruling party's second front," while Kim Geun-sik, a professor at Gyeongnam National University and head of the People Power Party's Songpa-byeong district in Seoul, rebutted it as "criticism for the sake of criticism."

On the afternoon of the 7th, Hong wrote on his Facebook, "Our party severed ties with the Fifth Republic by putting YS (the late former President Kim Young-sam) in December 1995 to set history straight, putting Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo on trial as coup forces," emphasizing, "I started my political career in YS's New Korea Party after that, and we have never once denied the Gwangju Democratization Movement."

He continued, "This apology for former Presidents Lee and Park is disguised as being for the Seoul and Busan mayoral elections, but it can only be understood as an attempt to justify the personal stance of some pro-impeachment factions like Chairman Kim and Floor Leader Joo Ho-young."

He then stressed, "When a cause and justification are lost, that politics is on the path to ruin."

Kim Geun-sik, professor at Gyeongnam University and head of the Seoul Songpa-byeong district of the People Power Party / Photo by Yonhap News

However, in response to Hong's remarks, Professor Kim sarcastically criticized, "He is working hard almost every day criticizing Chairman Kim Jong-in," adding, "You really put in a lot of effort."

Professor Kim pointed out, "Politically and morally apologizing for the judicial guilty verdicts of former presidents produced by our party and breaking away from the wrong past is the minimum necessary condition for the party's new change and innovation," adding, "An apology is not a collusion with dictatorship but an inevitable self-reflection to judge dictatorship."

He emphasized, "A public apology to the people is the inevitable choice to judge the Moon Jae-in dictatorship regime."

Professor Kim rather accused Hong of "blocking the official apology to former presidents and surrendering the party to the Taegeukgi hardliners and fraudulent impeachment claims," criticizing, "Hong's claim, which ultimately hands victory in the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections to the Democratic Party, is the real role of the Democratic Party's second front."

Kim Jong-in, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, is deep in thought during the Emergency Response Committee meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 7th. / Photo by Yonhap News

Meanwhile, according to multiple media reports, Chairman Kim reportedly stated at a closed Emergency Committee meeting on the morning of the same day that he would "issue a public apology on the 9th for the mistakes of former Presidents Lee and Park."

The 9th marks the fourth anniversary of the National Assembly's passage of the impeachment motion against former President Park.

Earlier, on the 6th, Chairman Kim also expressed strong determination to proceed with the public apology.

At a press conference held immediately after the People Power Party Youth Party founding ceremony at the KnK Digital Tower in Yeongdeungpo-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, he said, "The public apology to the people was something I announced when I first came to the People Power Party," adding, "I couldn't properly do it because of the party founding and other matters, but looking at the timing, I think it has become a time when it must be done."

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