Lee Won-wook: "At least the sea lets you swim... trapped in the 'Namguk Swamp'"

Published 22 May.2023 13:36(KST)

Lee Won-wook, a Democratic Party lawmaker classified as non-Myeong (非明) faction, expressed regret over the intra-party factional conflict surrounding Rep. Kim Nam-guk, who left the Democratic Party amid allegations of tens of billions of won in coin trading. Lee said Kim "has fallen into the Nam-guk swamp."

On the 22nd, on BBS's 'Jeon Young-shin's Morning Journal,' Lee said, "You can swim in the sea, right? So the expression 'Nam-guk's sea' doesn't seem appropriate."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This referred to voices within the party criticizing the party's slow response to the Kim Nam-guk incident, saying, "After crossing the Jo-guk river, we have fallen into the Nam-guk sea."

Lee said, "The more you struggle, the deeper you sink (in the swamp)," and questioned, "Who among the people would say the party is sincere and doing well in dealing with the current situation?"

He criticized, "I once told Party Leader Lee Jae-myung that he should resign as the head of 'Jae-myung's Village' (a Democratic Party supporter community), but if you look, the main notice title in Jae-myung's Village is 'Cheer up, Rep. Kim Nam-guk.' This shows how detached they are from public sentiment."

Recently, Lee also revealed messages from the so-called 'Gaeddal,' the Democratic Party's hardcore supporters, on his social media. He explained, "In those messages, there are talks about even founding a new party, and that if only 20 to 30 lawmakers remain, they could secure 151 seats. They say the rest must be driven out. I thought we need to break such extreme thinking, so I decided to make it public."

He added, "The hardcore fandom and the Democratic Party need to sever ties, and the only way to do that is for those benefiting from the fandom to make a decision and cut it off themselves. Leader Lee probably has never received such messages. They always support him and say he's doing well. When you look only at 'Our Village Leader' (Lee Jae-myung) in Jae-myung's Village, people say he's having a hard time but doing well. Because he only sees this, he doesn't realize the harm."

Lee pointed out that unless Leader Lee directly cuts off the problem, it will be difficult to escape the 'Nam-guk swamp.' He said, "Leader Lee must cut off this problem. Otherwise, collective intelligence in the Democratic Party cannot be formed. Ultimately, the reason we couldn't cross the Jo-guk river was the strong influence of hardcore fandoms at the time, and now there is a high possibility we won't escape the Nam-guk swamp."

Last weekend, the Democratic Party leadership attended a rally condemning the Fukushima contaminated water discharge and criticized the Yoon Suk-yeol government. However, some voices suggest this might be an attempt to deflect criticism over morality issues raised by the Kim Nam-guk incident. Lee said, "It's a bit too much to say they held the rally just to cover up the frame. Within the Democratic Party, there was discussion about whether all regional committees and lawmakers should participate fully or if voluntary participation would be better."