Lee Won-wook: "Hardcore fandom issue cannot be resolved by disciplining just a few members"

"The Effect of Taking One Step When You Need to Walk a Thousand Steps"

Regarding the first expulsion measure taken by the Democratic Party of Korea against a hardline party member who continuously sent abusive messages to non-mainstream (Bimyeong) faction lawmakers, Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Won-wook pointed out that "if a thousand steps need to be taken, this is only about the effect of taking one step," indicating that this alone is insufficient.

On the 24th, on SBS's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show,' Lee said, "While it can be seen as somewhat positive, the truth is that disciplining a few people and taking action against some party members does not solve the problem."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In response to the host's question, "Is there a possibility that the expulsion measure will make other hardline party members back down?" he said, "Not at all," adding, "The expelled member was problematic because of abusive messages sent, but the rest of the messages can continue to be sent without limit."

Lee said, "If the content is not abusive but something like 'Lawmaker Lee Won-wook, why are you doing this? Please unite with Representative Lee Jae-myung and work together,' and if the tone is polite, there is no basis for punishment," adding, "But those who have not actually experienced it do not understand. Once the messages start pouring in, it becomes impossible to do anything at all." He emphasized that even if the messages do not contain abusive language, the text message bombing is serious.

Earlier, Lee had also revealed the messages from the hardline party member on his social media. He said, "Representative Lee Jae-myung instructed the Ethics Inspection Team to investigate this. Initially, since there was a phone number, they checked and found that the sender was not a party member," adding, "The party may take additional measures such as filing a police report, but if it just stops here, it will end weakly."

He added, "Even if I do not disclose the message issue like this, if you look at the Facebook pages of the so-called 'Subak' lawmakers, you can see how much harm they are causing. But the party is not doing anything about it." 'Subak' is a derogatory term used for Bimyeong faction members, meaning someone who is different on the outside and inside.

When asked why Representative Lee has not yet resigned from his position as head of 'Jaemyeong's Village,' Lee said, "It is because he has not yet experienced the harm and therefore does not feel it," adding, "One of the reasons I disclosed the messages this time was to let lawmakers who have not experienced this problem indirectly feel it at least once."

The Democratic Party is planning to establish an Innovation Committee for internal reform, but opinions differ on who should be the chairperson. Regarding this, Lee said, "Ultimately, it is a matter of how to meet the public's expectations. The person should be someone whom the public would consider acceptable," adding, "It would be good if the person is moderate, not biased toward Representative Lee or the Bimyeong faction, but someone whom everyone can recognize."

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