Kim Jong-min "Lee Jae-myung's Waiver of Immunity from Arrest, How to Implement It Is the Task"

"No Words on Giving Up Election System Privileges, Shocking"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced in his parliamentary negotiation group representative speech that he would "give up immunity from arrest." Kim Jong-min, a non-mainstream (Bimyeong) Democratic Party lawmaker, evaluated this as "an opportunity to break away from a shield party," but also foresaw that concrete methods of implementation could become a challenge.

On the 20th, Kim said on BBS's "Jeon Young-shin's Morning Journal," "Although it is late, it is a good thing that such a position was announced even now."

Kim Jong-min, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is giving a greeting at the National Assembly forum titled "Electoral Reform for Working People" held on the 13th at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

He said, "The public criticism of the shield party has crossed a considerable line, but at least now that such a position has been announced, I hope it becomes an opportunity for our Democratic Party to move away from being a shield party in the future." He added, "How this will be implemented going forward, whether this leader will only address his personal issues, or whether the entire Democratic Party's atmosphere will change?these issues remain as tasks ahead."

When asked by the host why he declared the renunciation of immunity from arrest in June rather than during the first vote on the arrest consent motion in February, Kim replied, "I don't know the intention exactly. The only regret is that the first vote was in February, and from February to now, June, about four months have passed during which numerous cases related to immunity from arrest and votes occurred. Throughout that process, the Democratic Party inevitably earned the stigma of being a shield party and distanced itself from the public." He added, "I hope the Democratic Party takes some time to fundamentally reflect on the situation over the past four months."

Kim said, "The criticism of being a shield party shows that the Democratic Party has been stuck in this quagmire. Getting out of it does not end with just this declaration; continuous efforts must be made going forward."

He emphasized that to escape the "quagmire of shielding," it is necessary to relinquish privileges. Kim said, "Essentially, not only our Democratic Party but the core of entrenched political power lies not in immunity from arrest but in the electoral system as entrenched power.Political reform that relinquishes this electoral system privilege is, in my opinion, the most important task in Korean politics right now."

He continued, "In the leader's representative speech, there was not a single word about giving up the electoral system privilege. I was actually quite surprised because of that. Electoral reform is a core task of entrenched politics, and over 80% of public opinion polls support it. It was truly shocking that the leader of our largest party did not mention any responsible reform will or roadmap regarding this."

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