Yoo Seung-min and Lee Jun-seok Criticize 'Yoon's Profit Cartel'... The Inside Story of Conflict Within the Ruling Party

Intraparty Conflict Deepens Ahead of General Election
Ruling Party Leadership Defends President as "Common Sense Remarks"

President Yoon Suk-yeol's mention of flood damage recovery support and his call to abolish 'interest cartel political subsidies' have drawn criticism within the ruling party, attracting attention in connection with next year's general election landscape.

Former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min and former party leader Lee Jun-seok both criticized President Yoon for overusing the term 'interest cartel,' sparking interest in the political background behind their remarks.

As the level of criticism from Yoo and Lee targeting President Yoon intensifies, the clash between the party mainstream faction and the anti-Yoon faction appears to be deepening once again.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is speaking at the Cabinet meeting held on the 18th at the Presidential Office building in Yongsan, Seoul. / Photo by the Presidential Office

In a post on Facebook on the 18th, former lawmaker Yoo said, "The president says he will abolish all subsidies for interest cartels and corruption cartels and use those funds for flood damage recovery," adding, "If he had any sense of shame, he wouldn't be bringing up cartels again in this disaster where so many lives were lost."

Last month, Yoo also criticized President Yoon for labeling private education companies as interest cartels in relation to the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) 'killer questions' issue.

He said, "He first labeled labor unions and civic groups as cartels, and now he calls the Ministry of Education and private academies cartels," adding, "Cartels are unfair joint actions (collusion) prohibited by the Fair Trade Commission, but the FTC and prosecutors are doing nothing. President Yoon is now falsely calling things cartels without any evidence."

Former leader Lee also pointed out, "Interest cartel is a political term, and flood damage recovery is an urgent issue," adding, "Linking these two is the first mistake." He said, "It is unclear how to calculate subsidies whose exact amounts or scope are not defined, and using that as funding is the second mistake," and added, "The aides who advised the president to send such a message should be immediately dismissed."

The People Power Party rebutted that President Yoon's remarks are simply common sense, urging not to waste taxpayers' money elsewhere but to spend it where it is truly needed. Lee Yang-su, the party's floor deputy leader, explained on SBS Radio on the 20th, "The proposal is to cut subsidies that are used inappropriately, such as those with opaque accounting, overseas trips, or being divided up for self-enrichment, and to use those funds for flood recovery or scientific development."

He continued, "This is a very natural statement, but the sudden uproar seems to be a hypersensitive reaction because during the Moon Jae-in administration, subsidies were excessively given to civic groups or those close to them."

Opposition parties also pointed out that linking flood recovery and interest cartels is unreasonable. Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said during a visit to Yecheon, Gyeongbuk, which suffered from landslide damage on the 19th, "Interest cartels and disasters are not directly related," adding, "I regret that the remarks were not made more carefully."

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