"Party Leadership Is Short": Direct Confrontation Over Party Power and "Targeting" Tactics

[Anchor]

Tensions are escalating between factions within the Democratic Party over the upcoming party leadership race. Following recent remarks by Representative Jung Chung-rae that "the administration is short-lived," pro-Lee Jae-myung faction members fired back, stating that "party leadership is short," directly targeting the Representative. A heated debate also ensued over the "one-member, one-vote" system for all party members, which Representative Jung had pushed for.

Reporter Park Jae-yeon has the story.

[Reporter]

Democratic Party Representative Jung Chung-rae presided over the party's Supreme Council meeting in Gwangju today (June 12).

Appealing to the party sentiment in the Honam region, considered the biggest battleground for the party leadership election, he stated:

[Jung Chung-rae / Democratic Party Representative: Without Honam, could South Korea's democracy have grown this much?]

However, pro-Lee Jae-myung Supreme Council members confronted the Representative to his face, demanding that he take responsibility for the local election results and abandon his bid for a consecutive term.

[Hwang Myung-sun / Democratic Party Supreme Council Member: Many people are calling this an impudent leadership. I urge you to take a responsible stance.]

They also retorted to Representative Jung's remarks from two days ago, where he said, "The people are eternal, and the administration is short-lived."

[Kang Deuk-gu / Democratic Party Supreme Council Member: The people and party members are eternal, but party leadership is short.]

In response, the pro-Jung faction sharpened its attacks on Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, who is considered a likely competitor against Representative Jung for party leadership.

[Moon Jeong-bok / Democratic Party Supreme Council Member: It is not an urgent task for the person acting on behalf of the state during the President's overseas trip to give congratulatory speeches and take photos at a workshop for elected officials for two consecutive days.]

The "one-member, one-vote" system, which equalizes the voting weight of delegates and party members, is considered Representative Jung's signature policy. When lawmakers Jeon Hyun-hee and Kim Nam-hee publicly pointed out the need for supplementary measures to reflect the sentiments of the youth and moderate voters, Representative Jung shared a media report mentioning the two lawmakers by name on social media, retorting that "the one-member, one-vote system is democracy itself."

The two lawmakers pushed back, stating, "We have been receiving abusive messages and 'text bombs' all night due to this public targeting," and demanded an apology and clarification.

Regarding Representative Jung's declaration on social media today that he would "completely abolish the prosecution's supplementary investigation rights," Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho held a press conference to express his clear opposition. He stated, "If the prosecution does not handle investigations at all, are there alternatives to protect victims?" adding, "We cannot entrust all investigations to the police."

(Video reporting: Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Lee Seung-jin | Design: Lee Yeon-jun, Kim Ye-ji)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.