Yoo Intae "Kim Eunkyung, Grow Up... The Innovation Committee Must Be Disbanded"

Kim Eun-kyung, the Innovation Committee Chair of the Democratic Party of Korea, has been embroiled in a controversy over 'elderly disparagement,' prompting calls from some party members to disband the Innovation Committee. In this context, Yoo In-tae, a senior figure in the party and former Secretary-General of the National Assembly, urged Kim to resign, saying, "Since such a controversy has arisen, it would be better to disband it quickly."

On the 3rd, Yoo told CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "(If Kim does) not resign, will the Innovation Committee gain any authority?" He added, "I think it’s better to disband the Innovation Committee. (Kim) should just apologize and resign. Besides, who else would we bring in as the Innovation Committee Chair now?"

Former Secretary General of the National Assembly Yoon In-tae is giving a special lecture at the People’s Power Study Group for Public Sympathy held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 9th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Kim faced backlash for disparaging the elderly after mentioning the 'Remaining Life Proportional Voting System' proposed by her son during a youth roundtable on the 30th of last month, asking, "Isn't it reasonable?" The Democratic Party apologized to the Korea Senior Citizens Association the day before but Kim did not attend.

The Innovation Committee has recently been striving to prepare 'innovation plans,' including conducting opinion surveys on innovation by sending letters to Democratic Party lawmakers. However, Yoo criticized, "What’s the point of immature people repeatedly doing such things? Tell them to grow up a bit," and "What kind of survey is an immature person trying to conduct and continue with?" This seems to be a jab at Kim’s comment during a dialogue event with Gangwon Province residents the day before, where she said, "As a professor, I was immature and didn’t understand political language well."

Yoo also questioned the very origin of the Innovation Committee. He said, "We have to go to a provisional leadership anyway, ahead of the general election," and pointed out, "Even if you create an Innovation Committee under the current leadership, it will be an Innovation Committee that is cautious of the leadership. What kind of Innovation Committee would that be? There are limits."

He argued that the Innovation Committee, which acknowledges the existing leadership, has inherent limitations. "There were limits from the very beginning of its formation," he said. "That’s why none of the committee members said we would operate within the limits of recognizing the leadership legally elected at the party convention. What’s the point of making such an Innovation Committee?"

He added, "Since that was its original nature and such a controversy has arisen, it would be better to disband it quickly," and continued, "Unless the 'Gaeddal' act as Red Guards, it would be best to just cleanly apologize here and step down as Innovation Committee Chair. That would be the way to help the Democratic Party."

Regarding Kim’s remark that "It is humiliating to complete my term under Yoon Seok-youl," Yoo said, "That was also immature. Why say such things after completing the term?" and "That’s because she is immature."

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