Sangmin Lee: "Lee Jae-myung's claim to be the imprisoned representative is a tantrum"

"Bundang Talk, Premature"
"Absolute Support Is Lee Jae-myung Leadership's Weakness"
"End Political Life? Not Afraid at All"

With the approval of the arrest consent bill against Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, there are claims mainly from the pro-Lee faction that even if Lee is detained, he can still perform his role as leader from prison. However, Lee Sang-min, a Democratic Party lawmaker from the anti-Lee faction, criticized this by saying, "That's just stubbornness."

On the 22nd, on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' Lee said, "If he is arrested due to corruption allegations, he should cleanly step down from the leadership position, focus on proving his innocence, and after his innocence is confirmed, consider re-entering politics to spread his wings again. Saying he will just act as leader from prison is really just stubbornness."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The pro-Lee faction holds the position that even if Lee is detained following the arrest warrant hearing, he should continue to serve as leader from prison. Jeong Seong-ho, a key pro-Lee Democratic Party lawmaker, said on MBC's 'News High Kick' the day before, in response to the host's question, "Should he act as party leader from prison?" that "For the time being, I think he should."

However, Lee expressed skepticism, saying, "That is impossible. From the perspective of common sense among the people, would they see that as legitimate?" The problem is that considering Lee's high approval rating within the party, there is no suitable person to replace him. Lee pointed out, "On the contrary, such absolute support is actually a weakness in Lee's leadership," and added, "Clinging to the leadership position to an excessive degree only damages political leadership further."

Supporters of Lee have announced plans to identify politicians who voted in favor of the bill, threatening to "end their political careers." Lee said, "Ending political careers is the will of the people, not something any individual can do as revenge, nor is it appropriate to do so, and such things cannot happen," adding, "I am neither afraid nor worried at all."

There are also speculations that this incident could lead to a 'split' within the Democratic Party. Lee said, "It is premature to talk about a split just because opinions differ on an issue of this magnitude," and added, "We need to demonstrate wisdom to overcome such urgent and crisis situations, and if we do, it will become a turning point for the better."

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