Lee Jae-myung Congratulates Kim Ki-hyun a Day After Election Victory: "We Will Definitely Cooperate Where Needed"

Lee Jae-myung Congratulates Election Victory via SNS
Previous Day, Democratic Party's Statement on 'Death Sentence for Intra-Party Democracy'

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, congratulated Kim Ki-hyun on his election as leader of the People Power Party on the 9th and promised cooperation on livelihood issues. This marks a noticeably softened stance compared to the official comment immediately after Kim's election, which described it as a "death sentence for intra-party democracy in the People Power Party."

On the same day, Lee posted on social media (SNS), "Although there are ruling and opposition parties within political parties, there is no distinction between ruling and opposition in front of the people," and added, "I ask that we put our heads together in a 'competition to do well' to save the lives of people in crisis and join forces to overcome the livelihood economic crisis and peace crisis."

He said, "I believe you will keep the promise to prioritize people's livelihood as the top task," and "The Democratic Party and I will certainly cooperate to solve livelihood issues."

Lee expressed his willingness for bipartisan cooperation on livelihood and security issues on the day following Kim's election.

However, this expression of willingness to cooperate is quite different from the Democratic Party's official comment tone on Kim's inauguration the previous day. Because of this, Lee's expression of cooperation is largely seen as a formal gesture.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is delivering opening remarks at the 4th plenary meeting of the Peace and Security Countermeasures Committee held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 7th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Ahn Ho-young, chief spokesperson for the Democratic Party, took a critical stance regarding Kim's inauguration the previous day without using formal expressions such as "congratulations." He said, "It is proper to congratulate the ruling party's new leader, but it is difficult to send congratulations to Kim Ki-hyun, who is tainted by presidential interference in party affairs and immoral land speculation allegations." Ahn added, "Kim Ki-hyun was the People Power Party leader candidate from the beginning anyway," and "It was a natural step that Kim Ki-hyun was elected as the new leader of the People Power Party according to the scenario set by the Blue House."

Ahn continued his offensive against President Yoon Suk-yeol regarding the People Power Party leadership election results.

He repeatedly asked President Yoon, "Are you satisfied now that the candidate you wanted has become the party leader? Are you relieved now that you have defeated the candidates you did not like?" and lamented, "As of today, intra-party democracy in the People Power Party has completely died. There is no one in the People Power Party who can voice a different opinion from the president."

He went on, "Now, only the imperial president who controls the ruling party remains, reigning while setting up a proxy leader as a puppet," and said, "There is nothing more to expect from a ruling party that absolutely obeys the president and a dead ruling party that only watches the president's mood."

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