An Minseok: "Organized Movement by Pro-Approval Faction... A Hit-and-Run Murder Borrowing Power from the Ruling Party"

Democratic Party Rep. An Min-seok CBS Radio Interview
"No Leader in the Dissident Faction... Zero Possibility of Party Split"

Regarding the approval of the arrest consent bill for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, Ahn Min-seok, a member of the Democratic Party, criticized the anti-Lee faction by saying, "Yesterday's situation was a 'car door murder' by the pro-approval faction."

On the 22nd, Ahn appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said, "A 'car door murder' means killing someone using another person's knife. This has the essence of car door murder, trying to remove the leader by borrowing the People Power Party."

Ahn said, "I feel really ashamed that this administration could not stop this attempt to kill the opposition leader," adding, "In such a situation, we must act in a coordinated manner and set it as the party's official stance. I believe the failure to establish a party stance was a fatal mistake."

On the afternoon of the 21st, when the arrest motion for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was passed, supporters of Lee protested in front of the Democratic Party office in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

Ahn pointed out the leadership's responsibility and the organized movement of the pro-approval faction regarding the unexpected flood of approval votes in this vote. He said, "The leadership was complacent," and added, "I really cannot understand why Floor Leader Park Kwang-on could not set this as the party's official stance. If it had been set as the party stance, I believe the number of dissenting votes would have been within 10."

He continued, "A party is a political organization. If it cannot set a party stance on important issues or in times of crisis, then it is a 'party country' (a pun implying chaos within the party)."

Ahn also said, "On the day before and the morning of the vote, an organized movement by the pro-approval faction was detected," adding, "Prominent leaders among them individually met with lawmakers to enforce vote discipline and conducted so-called vote counting."

Regarding the analysis that Lee's social media post pleading for rejection the day before the vote backfired, Ahn said, "Both sides had negative reactions to that statement," but refuted, "It only served as an excuse for those who voted in favor. Even without that message, they would have cast approval votes."

About the atmosphere at the lawmakers' meeting held after the approval of the arrest consent bill, he said, "In my 20 years in politics, I have never seen such a fierce atmosphere in a party meeting. It was truly chaotic," and added, "Floor Leader Park Kwang-on expressed his intention to resign, which seems to have helped overcome a major crisis for now."

However, strong distrust has formed between the anti-approval and pro-approval factions. Ahn said, "Party members are now saying they will not forgive the pro-approval faction," and added, "We need to observe how this situation develops."

Ahn said, "It seems like a 'one roof, two families' system is forming. Internal strife is expected to worsen," but dismissed the possibility of a party split. He said, "There is no courageous leader to take the lead in guiding the pro-approval faction," and added, "Secondly, the next general election nominations will be handled by the party system."

Ahn explained, "In other words, as long as incumbents are not in the bottom 20% evaluation, they are given the opportunity to participate in primaries. Since this is the anti-Lee faction, they cannot avoid primaries, and the system prevents that, so I believe the possibility of a party split is zero."

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