Park Jumin: "Lee Sangmin Does Not Align with the Ruling Party's Direction... Discussing 'Principle and Common Sense' Leaving the Party Is Disrespectful"

"Principles and Common Sense, Not a Foregone Conclusion of Party Withdrawal"

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Jumin expressed regret regarding Lee Sangmin, who left the Democratic Party and joined the People Power Party, saying, "As a junior, I do not quite understand this political move."

On the 9th, Park appeared on KBS Radio's 'Jeon Jongcheol's Jeonggyeok Sisa' and said, "In fact, Lee Sangmin's usual thoughts and claims do not align well with the People Power Party's policies or political direction," adding, "He was one of the first in our party to propose the Equality Act, but the People Power Party explicitly opposes the Equality Act, doesn't it?"

Park Ju-min, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Yonhap News

Regarding the move of four members from the 'Principles and Common Sense' group, affiliated with former Democratic Party leader Lee Nakyeon and the anti-Lee Jae-myung faction, to leave the party, Park said, "The members of Principles and Common Sense have not yet made their departure a fait accompli," emphasizing, "Assuming their departure as a given and discussing it outright could be very disrespectful to them." He continued, "The party will continue efforts toward unity, so it is not right to preemptively draw conclusions," and added, "The party's efforts for unity will continue, so I hope people will watch those developments."

Regarding President Yoon Seok-yeol's veto of the dual special prosecutor bills (the Daejang-dong 5 billion club and Kim Geon-hee's Deutsche Motors stock manipulation special prosecutor bills) and the consideration of filing a constitutional dispute adjudication with the Constitutional Court, Park explained, "Every authority and right has inherent limits."

He said, "For example, although the president's pardon authority has no explicit restrictions, it does not mean the president can pardon family members or various appointed ministers without limits," adding, "If that were allowed, the president's relatives would effectively live in a legal immunity zone simply because they are relatives of the president." He further noted, "Similarly, even without special modifiers, there is a discussion that the veto power should not be used to reject special prosecutor bills related to the president's own crimes or laws that cause significant harm to the president due to conflicts of interest and other reasons."

In response to the People Power Party's claim that the constitutional dispute adjudication is an attempt to delay the vote, Park countered, "In less than two years of this administration, the veto has already been exercised eight times," and asked, "Is it the role of the National Assembly to allow the veto to be exercised without limits like this?" Park added, "Therefore, I believe it is appropriate to conduct a proper review and take various measures this time," and said, "As members of the same National Assembly, the People Power Party should also participate in this review."

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