Lee So-young: "Lee Nak-yeon's New Party Is a Betrayal of the People... It Should Not Happen"

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Lee So-young, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said to former leader Lee Nak-yeon, who is showing signs of forming a new party, "It is something that should not be done, and you need to change your mind."

On the 13th, Lee appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and stated, "I think what former leader Lee Nak-yeon is doing is a betrayal of the people."

Lee So-young, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

He said, "At this point, what the opposition party must do is to create a clear front so that the people can properly judge the Yoon Seok-yeol administration in this general election and win," adding, "It is difficult to tolerate scattering or weakening that front under the pretext of intra-party democracy."

Regarding former leader Lee Nak-yeon's justification of 'Lee Jae-myung's party privatization' and 'disappearance of intra-party democracy,' Lee said, "I don't think these are convincing reasons," and quoted Lee Nak-yeon as saying, "I am afraid because it seems the nation is collapsing." He then questioned, "But will the nation be normalized if Leader Lee Jae-myung is removed?"

He continued, "To my recollection, former leader Lee Nak-yeon was at the pinnacle of power in the two-party system and has made no efforts so far to expand the multiparty system or foster a third political zone," emphasizing, "While a third option is indeed necessary, breaking the Democratic Party to provide the people with a similar choice cannot be justified."

Regarding the issue of hardline fandom within the party, Lee said, "It is not a problem that one person can eliminate or solve; it has been a long-standing issue in the Democratic Party," and added, "Solving it requires a lot of time and investment of effort, and saying 'If it cannot be solved immediately, I will leave' is just an excuse for leaving the party."

On the speculation of an alliance between former leader Lee Nak-yeon and former People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok, he evaluated, "Creating a pop-up party for the general election among famous figures with no common ground does not help the health of Korean politics at all."

He also said, "A political party is not a neighborhood corner store," and added, "Cooperating without justification will not only fail to gain public sympathy but will surely lead to regret and quick closure."

Lee also urged Leader Lee Jae-myung to "listen carefully to various criticisms and emerging voices," and said, "If there are reasonable parts to accept in the criticism, they should be actively accepted."

However, he added, "If the criticizing members only say 'Leader Lee Jae-myung should step down' and 'there is no other answer,' integration or compromise becomes impossible."

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