[Full Text] Lee Jun-seok: "If you can't fix it, you can replace it" - Instill a sense of crisis... We need to strike the bamboo again

"I want politics that is strong against the strong and gentle to the weak"
"The result of the presidential election where the young generation actively participated for the first time must not be destroyed"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Former leader of the People Power Party, Lee Jun-seok, visited Daegu on the 4th and said, "We must once again raise the warning stick. The government that was regained with great difficulty, the result of a presidential election in which the younger generation showed interest in politics and actively participated for the first time, must never be allowed to collapse," urging, "Please give the politicians of Daegu, who remain inactive, the order to be strong against the strong and even weaker against the weak."

On that day, former leader Lee held a press conference at Daegu's Kim Kwang-seok Street and said, "The citizens of Daegu have always been a strong pillar for conservative parties. But that was a pillar to rely on when the party was on the right path, not a story telling them to take reckless actions trusting that pillar and to go along with it."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He added, "If there is a Daegu lawmaker standing at the forefront who denies intra-party democracy and even tries to ignore the judiciary's judgment, please sternly reprimand them," and "If they cannot be corrected, instill in them the sense of crisis that they can be replaced."

Regarding the party's national committee pushing for the approval of a party constitution amendment to launch a new emergency committee, he criticized, "Ignoring court rulings and hastily amending the party constitution retroactively to cover up their own shameful acts is unconstitutional," and said, "Even as more than half of the public points out that this is wrong, passing it at the national committee means they cannot block their disregard for the constitution at the party level and will once again provoke judicial intervention. It is shameful and deplorable."

The following is the full text of the press conference statement.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Coming to Kim Kwang-seok Street and seeing you all truly feels refreshing.

The songs of Kim Kwang-seok quietly playing on this street resonate through generations and have made this place one of Daegu's hot spots. Once again, I pay tribute to the late Kim Kwang-seok, who left us at a young age.

But you may not know this. Songs like "Letter from a Private," which became widely known to the public through Kim Kwang-seok's reinterpretation in the album , were once banned before Kim Kwang-seok sang them. They were banned because the song and singing style were considered depressing and detrimental to soldiers' morale.

There was an era of banned songs that today's younger generation would find laughable.

was banned by authorities because it reflected the realities of the times. At the worst times, the reason was even "immature singing style." Lee Moon-se sang was criticized for a scattered and immature singing style, Jeon In-kwon was told his singing was subpar and his lyrics delivery was poor, denying their artistry. Sanulrim was even banned for "hating singing style."

Did all these songs truly lack artistic value? Or did they lack lyrics that could capture people's hearts? These songs, after passing through dark times, were eventually remade by someone in karaoke rooms, sung across generations, and finally received recognition. It was only delayed due to excessive censorship and someone's discomfort. The day always comes. And it did not take long.

Looking back now, the saying "welfare without tax increase is a fiction" resonates deeply with everyone. The madness of branding a politician from Daegu who tried to warn that if you earn 10,000 won, about 3,000 won would go to taxes, as a traitor and a sycophant, was driven not by reason or logic but by blind worship of an absolute figure.

At the time, Cho Eung-cheon, then Secretary for Public Service Discipline, was a whistleblower warning of an impending crisis. The Daegu-born Cho Eung-cheon, who revealed the truth, was ostracized by the conservative camp and started a political path he never dreamed of in the Democratic Party, leading to where he is now. Had the conservative camp listened to this whistleblower, they would not have faced the impeachment crisis, and the absolute figure would not have been unhappy.

The current People Power Party is more dangerous than back then. They try to silence speech. Those who cannot tolerate the idiom "yangduguyuk" (a phrase meaning "a dog in front of the sheep") and throw tantrums?are they intellectually poor despite their education, or are they sycophants who applaud whenever the leader farts? The Supreme Court has ruled that "yangduguyuk" is an acceptable expression. Those who take issue with it either lack discernment if ordered or have no soul and should remove their badges if they overreact without orders. Just as it is laughable now to recall when "Letter from a Private" was banned and Lee Moon-se and Jeon In-kwon were criticized for immature singing, these are just memories of dark times.

The current pain in Korean politics is like the old days when if you disliked the lyrics or the singer, you criticized the singer's singing style. If you use an idiom, they get upset saying you are comparing people to animals. There is no reason to yield to such petty people.

Recently, BTS was banned from broadcasting by a TV station. BTS are singers and artists. While remaining silent on the issue of excessive censorship banning broadcasts because an artist used the word "saekki" (a common Korean swear word) in lyrics, it is deplorable that the government is considering spending public money on a poll to discuss their military service exemption despite their willingness to fulfill military duties faithfully.

The younger generation desires freedom. Freedom to criticize someone, freedom to sing the songs they want. Concerns that the younger generation might sympathize with North Korea or that lyrics containing "saekki" might incite violence are just coughs of censorship made to suppress freedom.

All citizens, especially all members of the People Power Party, have the freedom to criticize the Moon Jae-in government as much as they have the freedom to criticize the Yoon Suk-yeol government. Naturally, party members who are presidents can express dissatisfaction with the party leader's actions, call it internal criticism, and circulate such insulting content. This is fundamentally the same freedom.

I will continue to sing banned songs.

Perhaps the reason the younger generation's words are uncomfortable is not because the words themselves are uncomfortable but because the way they are viewed is wrong. Like watching TV lying down is comfortable at first but becomes uncomfortable when your neck is twisted for a long time, we must sit up straight before the neck twist becomes fixed and make efforts to correct our posture when uncomfortable.

In the authoritarian era, the threat of North Korea was used to justify all this. Citizens of Daegu, what threat justifies this uncivilized behavior now? Is it Yoo Seung-min, who has been their enemy for seven years? Yoo Seung-min, who is probably being portrayed as a schemer on YouTube today, is likely worrying about his elderly mother's health, reading books, and watching TV.

Is the cabinet system that Chairman Kim Jong-in is pushing? Chairman Kim Jong-in is 83 this year and will be 85 in the election year. To be prime minister under a cabinet system, he must be a lawmaker. Does the conspiracy theory that he will create a cabinet system to become prime minister sound plausible?

We strongly reject the story that the National Election Commission and the Korea Post are colluding to rig elections nationwide, yet we won the presidential and local elections. The reason YouTubers who exaggerate non-threats as threats and declare non-emergencies as emergencies while applauding actions that actually threaten democracy are rampant is that they mistakenly believe they can control the public with such threats and agitation and survive by providing that service to those in power.

If you ask me what kind of politics I want, it is politics that is strong against the strong and weak against the weak. There will be no bending to the president or influential politicians. But I tried to be a fence that guarantees freedom for young and promising new politicians. I have always actively listened and sought solutions for the cries about the mobility rights of the disabled, but if they tried to enforce it by blocking others' commutes for long hours, I tried to be a force for citizens who could not resist that distorted strong power.

Today, I stand here to criticize Daegu's political culture and demand change and awakening. Is Daegu's politics now strong against the strong and weak against the weak? Politicians who spoke for the people struggling with taxes are branded as traitors, and politicians who don't even know what Daegu citizens are doing are still acting as vanguards under the name of first-term lawmakers. To express the current situation for our party lawmakers who get excited just by idioms, it is like "jiruk wima" (calling a deer a horse). When Yoon's core faction called a deer a horse, why do first-term lawmakers rush to approve it as a horse and collectively lynch some conscientious people who said it was a deer?

Do not accept the cowardly excuse that it is because they are first-term and powerless. Kim Young-sam was brave from his first term. He boldly told President Syngman Rhee that a third-term amendment was unacceptable. He resisted the "three-five" vote count. Kim Dae-jung resisted the first filibuster in parliamentary history without a script against the arrest of a fellow lawmaker. Roh Moo-hyun raised his voice and threw his nameplate during the Fifth Republic hearings. For whom have Daegu lawmakers fought, what have they sacrificed for, and what oppression have they endured?

The citizens of Daegu have always been a strong pillar for conservative parties. But that was a pillar to rely on when the party was on the right path, not a story telling them to take reckless actions trusting that pillar. If there is a Daegu lawmaker standing at the forefront who denies intra-party democracy and even tries to ignore the judiciary's judgment, please sternly reprimand them. And if they cannot be corrected, instill in them the sense of crisis that they can be replaced.

Coincidentally, in 1996 when Kim Kwang-seok left us, Daegu had already raised the warning stick in politics. In the 15th general election, when the ruling Democratic Liberal Party tried to oust Chairman Kim Jong-pil from the party, Kim Jong-pil split. Subsequently, the New Korea Party failed to secure a majority in the general election, winning only 2 of 13 seats in Daegu. As you know well, President Kim Young-sam's grip on the party gradually weakened, and before the presidential election, candidate Lee Hoi-chang, who advocated purging the "three Kims," rose to prominence.

Journalist Cho Gap-je testified in 2001 that the late President Kim Young-sam regretted his split with Chairman Kim Jong-pil in 1995. Cho said he had never seen the stubborn President Kim Young-sam admit his mistakes so frankly. The regret of a political gambler unmatched in politics like Kim Young-sam must be sincere. Because after that political turmoil, the conservative camp did not govern for ten years and stumbled around.

Now in 2022, Daegu must once again raise the warning stick. The government regained with great difficulty, and the result of a presidential election in which the younger generation showed interest in politics and actively participated for the first time, must never be allowed to collapse. Please give the politicians of Daegu, who remain inactive, the order to be strong against the strong and even weaker against the weak. If they submit to injustice just to get nominated once, show that Daegu can judge them. Show that Daegu will not be silent about their silence and will not tacitly approve their implicit consent.

Now, please let those who have the courage to speak up for democracy and political development, who are willing to be oppressed at times and can stand strong against the strong, represent Daegu?not those who have become civil servants and received the Order of Service Merit. Politicians who only watch the power holders and are stuck in inertia should not represent Daegu.

In the past, Kim Du-han, father of former lawmaker Kim Eul-dong, said in his own words that he lacked education and made many mistakes during the liberation period but fought within his party against the three-term amendment, threw excrement during incidents that aroused public outrage, was imprisoned, and died early at 55 on the day freedom disappeared through the Yushin Constitution referendum after frequent torture and imprisonment. At least during the time he was active as a politician, the street fighter spoke from the perspective of the people, not political or economic power.

No matter how educated or decorated with the Order of Service Merit, if you cannot act at least as Kim Du-han did when facing injustice, you cannot be called a better politician.

The habit of savagery is an ecosystem where strong animals take the lives of weak animals and tear their flesh. Civilization achieved by humans is about living in groups relying on each other, suppressing that savagery, and having power elected by voting, not by the physical strength of the genetically strong, maintain social order. And when that elected power is excessively abused, establishing systems to restrain and check it is the completion of civilization.

It is freedom to dislike the party leader for internal criticism and to gossip after ousting him. But beyond that freedom, arbitrarily amending the party constitution and shaking party affairs is an infringement of others' freedom and an overreach. Above all, ignoring court rulings and hastily amending the party constitution retroactively to cover up their own shameful acts is unconstitutional. Tomorrow, the national committee will vote on this. Even as more than half of the public points out that this is wrong, passing it at the national committee means they cannot block their disregard for the constitution at the party level and will once again provoke judicial intervention. It is shameful and deplorable. Who will such a group that treats the constitution and party rules like trash criticize in the future?

It was 458 days ago. I gave a speech in Daegu ahead of the party convention. I said that if Daegu crosses the river of impeachment and accepts my view that impeachment is justified, the prosecutor who led the investigation into President Park Geun-hye but stood firmly against the corruption of the Moon Jae-in government would not be intimidated and would join a larger group to oppose the Moon Jae-in government without hesitation. I promised to create a presidential victory through that.

The prosecutor who led the investigation into President Park Geun-hye has now become president. Citizens of Daegu crossed the river of impeachment and realized that promise with an overwhelming vote. Thank you once again.

Now, ironically, I want to make a new promise and proposal to the citizens of Daegu. I hope Daegu will lead another miracle. Please raise your voices so that the People Power Party can be operated democratically. And encourage Daegu politicians not to be cowardly.

I know all the problems of Daegu, from drinking water to airport issues and metropolitan rail problems. I will not mention those today. Because now is a time when your courage and participation are needed more than detailed policy agreement. The detailed problems of Daegu will be expressed in better ways and with better solutions by the younger generation of Daegu the moment you open the channels. When the younger generation can politically voice their opinions freely without suffocation, they will seek political dreams, business plans, and academic opportunities in Daegu rather than leaving it. This is not Lee Jun-seok's story. It is your children's story. Your grandchildren's story. No, it is the story of the future younger generation not yet born.

The spirit of the Yeongnam Confucian scholars is based on the courage to speak frankly to the king and the free-spiritedness that Toegye showed in his seven-year correspondence and debates with the 26-year-younger Gobong without being authoritarian. Rebuilding these two pillars, I will create a democratic party that will never lose and lead reforms to repay the citizens of Daegu. More citizens of Daegu, please join as party members and become responsible members. And open more opportunities and more freedom for Daegu's younger generation.

Chuseok is approaching soon. This Chuseok, gather with your family, have conversations you missed, and sit together across generations to talk about the future of Korea that the younger generation desires. They have learned enough and love the community as much as you do. When you open a space for them to speak, they open their hearts.

I will not avoid efforts to change the conservative party and will work harder in Daegu. Even if you do not help, I will walk this path. But if you help, I am confident that day will come sooner.

Thank you.

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