Lee Jae-myung Strikes Back Against Pressure to 'Cut Off Hardcore Fandom'... But Concerns Remain

Facing pressure from the non-Myeong faction to sever ties with the hardline fandom known as 'Gaeddal,' Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, launched a counterattack. Referring to the fact that the sender of the abusive text messages, presumed to be from the hardline fandom and sent to Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Won-wook of the non-Myeong faction, was not a party member, he retorted, "False distortions not based on facts harm the community." However, the non-Myeong faction points out that even though the case involving the lawmaker was proven false, the problem with the hardline fandom remains.

On the 25th, Democratic Party lawmaker Cho Eung-cheon said on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' program, "I want to ask if whether that person (who sent the message) is a party member or not is the essence of this situation," adding, "The leadership seems to be saying they will investigate the truth, conduct an inquiry, and prepare against division tactics, but this is somewhat audacious."

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 24th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The lawmaker revealed the abusive messages presumed to be from the hardline fandom and demanded that the party leader sever ties with them. However, the case took a turn when the investigation showed that the messages were not sent by a party member. In response, the leader targeted the non-Myeong faction at a meeting with party members the previous day, saying, "Let's not be played by external division tactics. Let's verify things." The leadership also announced it would investigate the truth behind the division tactics.

However, lawmaker Cho said, "We have 2 million party members, and the party member database is held by each lawmaker, so there is no way for (the lawmaker) to check in advance whether someone is a party member or not," adding, "The real issue now is the double standards, moral insensitivity, and deterioration of democracy within the party. Whether a specific person is one among 2 million or not, to say 'I was deceived by division tactics and will investigate the circumstances' is somewhat absurd."

Yoo In-tae, a senior figure in the Democratic Party and former Secretary-General of the National Assembly, said on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "While Leader Lee is trying to restrain his words, I think he basically considers it seasoning, like former President Moon Jae-in did," adding, "The centrist and independent voters are all leaving, but without any sense of crisis, he seems to think, 'Because that faction (the hardline fandom) is still there supporting us, our support remains at this level.'"

Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Jong-min also said on CBS's 'Park Jae-hong's One-on-One Battle' the previous day that the original fandom, Nosamo (the Association of People Who Love Roh Moo-hyun), was different from Gaeddal, stating, "(Nosamo) was a group where different opinions coexisted and discussions were possible." Conversely, Gaeddal is a group where opinions do not coexist and discussions do not happen.

The pro-Lee faction is raising their voices, saying the hardline fandom should not be demonized. Democratic Party Supreme Council member Seo Eun-sook said on BBS's 'Jeon Young-shin's Morning Journal,' "Supporting Leader Lee Jae-myung is not a crime," adding, "Factionalism and partisanship can exist in our politics, but when the opponent is demonized, the essence becomes unclear."

Min Hyung-bae, a Democratic Party lawmaker who left the party during the 'Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights (Geom-su-wan-bak)' phase but later rejoined, said on SBS's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show,' "The hardline fandom itself is language attacking the Democratic Party," adding, "They keep creating terms like passionate fans and hardline fans to use as language to attack the opponent, but isn't a party with many passionate supporters a good party?"

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