The Minjoo Innovation Meeting Condemns Former Leader Lee Nak-yeon... "Stop the New Party Formation"

Reasons for the Formation of 'Lee Nak-yeon New Party' Unclear
'Political Polarization' Is a False Pretext... Solely 'Anti-Myung'
"Internal Sympathizers Will Not Stand By"

The Deobureo Minjoo Party's extraparliamentary innovation body, the Deominju National Innovation Council, on the 18th repeatedly criticized former leader Lee Nak-yeon for his current plan to establish a 'new party' and demanded that he stop. Earlier, when rumors of the 'new party establishment' surfaced, they also urged Lee to 'retire from politics.'

The Deominju National Innovation Council held a press conference at the National Assembly that morning and stated, "We define former leader Lee's establishment of a new party as an act that denies the history and democratic procedures of the Minjoo Party and strongly condemn it."

The Deominju National Innovation Council said, "Former leader Lee has declared the establishment of a new party. He is someone who served as a five-term member of the National Assembly, governor of Jeonnam Province, prime minister, and even as the party leader under the name of the Minjoo Party, yet he is now denying the party's history and democratic procedures."

On the afternoon of the 10th, General Election Committee Chairman Lee Nak-yeon and candidate Lee Jae-myung encouraged each other at the disbandment ceremony of the Election Countermeasures Committee held at the Democratic Party Central Office in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

They then pointed out that they cannot understand the reasons Lee Nak-yeon claims for establishing the new party.

They said, "(The reason for establishing the new party) is said to be due to polarized politics, but Lee never once talked about solving the political polarization problem either during his leadership or afterward," adding, "If the reason is to leave politics due to a tired heart, that might be understandable, but it is hard to see it as a reason for founding a new party."

The reason of 'political polarization' for establishing the new party is seen only as a 'false pretext' to hide Lee's political ambitions. Rather, it is emphasized that the force trying to change the current polarized politics through dialogue, compromise, and coexistence is leader Lee Jae-myung.

They stated, "Since leader Lee took office, to restore people's livelihoods from the tyranny of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, the four opposition parties, including the Justice Party, Basic Income Party, and Progressive Party, have steadily cooperated legislatively and proposed eight summit meetings to President Yoon," and countered, "The responsibility for political polarization must be placed on President Yoon Seok-yeol and the People Power Party, who treat the leader of the main opposition party as a serious criminal."

Therefore, they downgraded former leader Lee's new party establishment as merely 'anti-Lee Jae-myung.' They also pointed out that invoking leader Lee's judicial risks is inappropriate since the judicial risk is essentially 'prosecutorial stalking' and the arrest warrant was already dismissed, so using this as an excuse to discuss leader Lee's position is improper. In particular, leader Lee was chosen as the presidential candidate and party leader by party members and the public in the 2021 presidential primary and last year's party convention, and he also led two subsequent by-election victories, so denying him does not align with the party's sentiment.

They said, "Without presenting political values or visions to the public, only the claim of 'anti-Myung' is visible," and criticized, "The establishment of a new party without any political justification or basis is ultimately Lee Nak-yeon's vain political ambition."

They also sharpened their stance regarding alliances with third-zone new parties. They questioned, "Why are you planning a political future with people like Geum Tae-seop, former head of strategy planning for the Yoon Seok-yeol campaign, and Yang Hyang-ja, former chair of the People Power Party's semiconductor special committee?" and criticized, "Everyone knows that ultimately this new party will have to surrender to the Yoon administration. This denies the history of the Minjoo Party."

They continued, "We urge the cessation of former leader Lee's plan to establish a new party that will cause division among the Minjoo Party and progressive reform forces and serve the interests of the Yoon administration," and emphasized, "We will not tolerate the uprising of divisive forces within the Minjoo Party that sympathize with this."

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