Park Sung-min "We Must Cut Off Politicians Who Exploit Lee Jae-myung's Name for False Prestige"

At a Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmakers' meeting, pro-Lee (親明) lawmaker Kim Yong-min made a remark along the lines of "Young politicians like lawmaker Kim Nam-guk take responsibility themselves, so should we protect young politicians?" Former DPK Supreme Council member Park Sung-min criticized this, saying it "sounds like sophistry." He raised his voice to Lee Jae-myung, the party leader, saying, "Politicians who try to ride on Lee's name to gain influence by borrowing others' power (호가호위, fox borrowing tiger's might) need to be cut off."

On the 26th, on BBS's 'Jeon Young-shin's Morning Journal,' former Supreme Council member Park said, "It's not that young people should be protected just because they are young, but my point was that attacks against the university student committee or young politicians should be stopped or improved. The intention is actually to improve the democratic environment within the party."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 12th, former Supreme Council member Park, along with seven other young politicians, held a press conference at the National Assembly demanding party reform. On the same day, the DPK National University Student Committee also held a press conference with the same content. However, after this press conference, young politicians have been attacked by a hardline fandom known as 'Gaeddal,' leading to calls for protecting them.

Former Supreme Council member Park pointed out, "It's not 'Please protect us because we are young.' Rather, we spoke the truth but were criticized and attacked excessively. The level of criticism is almost violent. Is it right to leave such criticism unaddressed?" He added, "Bringing lawmaker Kim into this is even more inappropriate, and saying that Kim should be protected because he is young is even more nonsensical."

Within the party, there are calls for leader Lee to actively sever ties with the hardline fandom and restrain them, but former Supreme Council member Park said there is no sense of firmness. He said, "Leader Lee has repeatedly urged restraint, but on the other hand, he also takes a position of appeasing those party members. Because of this, party members probably do not feel that the leader is being firm. The public who observe this feel the same way," he pointed out.

He continued, "Saying 'cut ties with Gaeddal, completely sever the fandom' is actually somewhat unrealistic," he said. "But what I hope is cut off are politicians who attach themselves to the so-called Gaeddal to gain influence or politicians who try to ride on leader Lee's name to gain influence," he added.

When the host asked, "Are those politicians referring to pro-Lee factions such as lawmaker Kim Yong-min?" former Supreme Council member Park replied, "I think viewers will make their own judgments, so I will not specify anyone," adding, "But what is clear is that I believe such forces exist, and I hope they reflect on whether this is truly the way to serve the party."

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