Gominjeong: "Kim Namguk's Party Resignation Is a Self-Imposed Political Death Sentence"

Regarding Kim Nam-guk, a member of the Democratic Party who left the party amid suspicions involving billions of coins, Democratic Party lawmaker Ko Min-jung evaluated that he "has effectively given himself a political death sentence."

On the 15th, Ko said on SBS's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show,' "Many people seem to take his voluntary resignation lightly, but I do not think so," expressing this view.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

She added, "In a way, I think he has given himself a political death sentence. However, if the public still says that is not enough, we must humbly listen and come up with new measures accordingly, which is only natural."

However, since his resignation occurred before any disciplinary action was taken, there are criticisms that it might have been to prepare for next year's general election. Article 18 of the Democratic Party's regulations states that if a member resigns during disciplinary proceedings, they should be subject to a penalty equivalent to expulsion.

Ko said, "that aspect is regrettable. When he announced his resignation, I don't think he calculated that he could evade the party's constitution and regulations. Those who have been in the party longer might have known, but even I did not expect such a clause to exist," she said.

She continued, "So I think it would have been better if he had been a bit more meticulous. As I mentioned earlier, if he had discussed this with someone, like party officials, he probably would not have made that decision," adding, "Many lawmakers worry that this is just a temporary break to prepare for a comeback, but I believe the only way to dispel such concerns is to continue the investigation and produce results."

Due to the impeccable timing of Kim's resignation, rumors of prior coordination with party leader Lee Jae-myung have also emerged. Ko said, "I don't think there was prior coordination. The circumstances are that we launched the fact-finding team on Wednesday, and then on Friday morning, there was an exclusive report about deals made during the standing committee or confirmation hearings. Then, around lunchtime that day, the Ethics Inspection Team was ordered to act," adding, "if there had been prior coordination, logically, they would have proceeded before ordering the Ethics Inspection Team, not after."

Following the resignations of lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Seong-man, who were under suspicion of money envelope scandals, and now Kim's resignation, criticism has arisen that "resignation has become the Democratic Party's signature." Responding to such viewer criticism during the broadcast, Ko said, "I take that very painfully," adding, "We need to reflect and apologize in some way. If we have to apologize a hundred or a thousand times, I believe we must."

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