The Opposition Innovation Committee Becomes a Punching Bag... Criticism Extends to the 'Third Zone'

Geum Tae-seop Shindang "Democratic Party Innovation Committee Itself Old-fashioned"
Controversy Over Defense Yang Yi-won-young "Sorry for Causing Misunderstanding"

Criticism is pouring in not only from the ruling party but also from 'third zone' new parties against the Democratic Party Innovation Committee, which has sparked controversy over 'elderly disparagement' remarks. While Innovation Committee Chair Kim Eun-kyung has delayed an official apology, Democratic Party Floor Leader Park Kwang-on issued a proxy apology, but the controversy shows no signs of subsiding, with the Korea Senior Citizens Association releasing a statement demanding an apology. Democratic Party lawmaker Yang Yi-won-young, who defended Chair Kim and caused controversy, apologized, saying, "I am sorry."

The 'New Party Preparation Committee' (hereafter New Party), led by former lawmaker Geum Tae-seop, released a statement on the 2nd criticizing Chair Kim's remarks and response, saying, "How can the Democratic Party Innovation Committee, which is itself entrenched in old practices, bring about any innovation?" According to political circles, the New Party plans to hold a founding initiator meeting next month.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The New Party stated, "Anyone can make mistakes. What the public criticizes is not only Chair Kim's remarks but also the way they are handled," adding, "The Democratic Party always acts like this. When problems arise, instead of apologizing cleanly and having the person responsible take accountability to resolve the issue, they always try to make excuses, defend themselves, and fight against the public, which only escalates the controversy. This was exactly the case during the so-called Cho Kuk incident."

Yang Hyang-ja, who founded the new party 'Hope of Korea,' also criticized on her social media on the 1st, saying, "For the sake of the Democratic Party, it would be better if Chair Kim stepped down from her position. This is not the first time she has caused trouble," and added, "Chair Kim's remarks remind us of past elderly disparagement comments made by key figures in the Democratic Party."

Earlier, Chair Kim mentioned in a roundtable with 20s and 30s generation youths that her adult son, when he was in middle school, suggested that "voting should be proportional from one's own age to life expectancy, and from the mother's age to life expectancy," and said, "Isn't that quite reasonable?" This was perceived as agreeing with her son's opinion, igniting the 'elderly disparagement' controversy. Although the Innovation Committee explained that it was not an agreement, the controversy has not easily subsided.

This is because Chair Kim only expressed 'regret' without a clear apology. On the same day, Democratic Party Floor Leader Park Kwang-on made a kind of 'proxy apology,' saying, "We will refrain from remarks or actions that promote generational conflict or hurt specific generations," but the fire has spread to Democratic Party Leader Lee Jae-myung, who established the Innovation Committee.

On the same day, the Korea Senior Citizens Association issued a statement saying, "The 9.5 million elderly generation is outraged by Chair Kim's remarks that ignore the constitutionally guaranteed suffrage rights, saying 'voting should be proportional to the average remaining life expectancy,'" and demanded, "Visit the Korea Senior Citizens Association to apologize and promise to prevent recurrence."

Yang Yi-won-young, who defended Chair Kim's remarks the day before and caused controversy, apologized on social media. Lawmaker Yang said, "I apologize for causing misunderstanding with the expressions I used. I did not intend to ignore or disparage the political participation of older people, but I expressed myself poorly."

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