Calls for consecutive purges of pro-vote factions... Will Lee Jae-myung's Democratic Party draw the sword?

Pro-Prosecutor Faction "Passed Lawmakers Must Leave" Pressure Intensifies
Party Unity Also Considered Ahead of General Election and Gangseo-gu By-election

The Democratic Party of Korea gained political momentum with the victory in the Seoul Gangseo District Office chief election, but the aftershocks of internal strife over the approval of the arrest motion against leader Lee Jae-myung have not subsided. Amid strong pressure from hardline supporters urging 'discipline for those who voted in favor,' the pro-Lee (pro-Lee Jae-myung) faction even mentioned the possibility of referring the lawmakers who voted in favor to the Ethics Committee.

Within the party leadership, centered on pro-Lee supreme council members, there has been an official warning of disciplinary action against the lawmakers who openly voted in favor. Supreme council members Seo Eun-sook and Seo Young-kyo have already defined the favorable vote as a 'relevant act' and mentioned the possibility of referral to the Ethics Committee.

The Seoul Central District Court dismissed the arrest warrant requested by the prosecution following the pre-arrest detention hearing for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 27th of last month. Lee was speaking as he left the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province on the 27th of last month.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The anti-Lee faction lawmakers are countering that the favorable vote was a judgment made for the sake of the Democratic Party. On the 3rd, lawmaker Lee Sang-min said on KBS's 'The Live' regarding the harsh remarks from the pro-Lee faction toward the lawmakers who voted in favor, "I think they are giving fan service to the demands of so-called hardline supporters among the various spectra of party members backing them."

Leader Lee, who is recovering after a hunger strike, is expected to return to party affairs soon.

Former Democratic Party lawmaker Geum Tae-seop predicted that Leader Lee would internally use a 'hard-and-soft strategy.' Geum, who is preparing to launch the third-party 'New Choice,' said on YTN Radio, "If they talk about rooting out and disciplining, it could give the anti-Lee faction lawmakers a justification to leave, but they will not give that. They will try to maintain an ambiguous stance somehow, neither allowing them to leave nor oppose, and carry it through to the election."

Former People Power Party emergency committee chairman Kim Jong-in forecasted, "A large-scale expulsion of the anti-Lee faction is impossible." On CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' former emergency committee chairman Kim said, "Maybe one or two individuals could be excluded, but excluding such a large number is unlikely, and there aren't that many such figures."

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