Is Kim Nam-guk's Rejection Directed by Lee Jae-myung? ... Divided Opinions Even Within the Opposition Party

Jung Sung-ho "Did you hear it yourself?"
Kim Jong-min "Confident in the clear instructions from the party leadership"

As the expulsion proposal against Rep. Kim Nam-guk, who left the Democratic Party of Korea amid suspicions of multi-billion won cryptocurrency transactions, was rejected due to unanimous opposition from Democratic Party members on the National Assembly Ethics Special Committee, suspicions have arisen that "there might have been instructions from Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party leader." Pro-Lee (친명) figures drew a line by calling it an "extension of the logic of 'everything leads back to Lee Jae-myung’s responsibility,'" but anti-Lee (비명) factions within the Democratic Party claim that "there must have been clear instructions."

Jeong Seong-ho, a pro-Lee Democratic Party lawmaker, said on the 31st on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "How could the party leader possibly give orders on this matter, telling them what to do or not to do?" He added, "I want to ask whether those people heard the instructions directly or were told about them, although I don’t know what kind of instructions or what they meant."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding the previous day’s rejection of the expulsion proposal by the National Assembly Ethics Committee, Jang Ye-chan, the Youth Supreme Council member of the People Power Party, pointed to Lee as the mastermind behind the rejection, saying, "If there was no instruction from Leader Lee to protect Kim Nam-guk, would all three Democratic Party lawmakers have voted against the expulsion?" On the same day, on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae’s Focus,' Jang argued, "If Leader Lee had not issued instructions to protect his closest aide, Rep. Kim, it would have been impossible for all three to cast opposing votes despite the unfavorable public opinion."

However, Rep. Jeong said, "Making such speculative remarks is nothing but an extension of the logic of 'everything leads back to Lee Jae-myung’s responsibility' whenever there is a problem inside or outside the Democratic Party," adding, "No matter how many mitigating circumstances there are, the party leader cannot express his opinion on this matter."

Democratic Party lawmakers who voted against the expulsion were seen as doing so because of Kim’s announcement not to run again. Rep. Jeong said, "What is the biggest thing for a politician? It is to cut off their own political life. Not only did he leave the Democratic Party, but recently he declared that he would not run next year. He said he would quit politics." Pro-Lee Democratic Party lawmaker An Min-seok also said on YTN's 'News King Park Ji-hoon,' "The announcement of not running means retirement from politics. If he says he will quit politics, I cautiously think that the public might accept this to some extent."

However, even within the Democratic Party, there are reactions that this cannot be understood without instructions from Leader Lee. Rep. Kim Jong-min said on the previous day’s CBS 'Park Jae-hong’s One-on-One Show,' "(The rejection) is a decision impossible without instructions from the party leadership," adding, "I am convinced that there were clear instructions from the party leadership."

It is said that the 'sudden announcement of not running' itself was planned. In response to a panelist’s question, "Isn’t the declaration of not running next time also planned?" he said, "I see it as political skill that they persuaded Rep. Kim well to make such a (non-running) declaration, but this is not political skill; it is a way to ruin the Democratic Party." He added, "Everyone knows that the Democratic Party is in crisis because of double standards, but why do we have to hear that the Democratic Party still hasn’t come to its senses?"

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