"Party Leadership Is Short": Head-on Collision Over "Targeting and Text Bombing"

[Anchor]

Factional conflict within the Democratic Party over the next party leadership is intensifying. Following Democratic Party Representative Jung Chung-rae's remark that "regimes are short," pro-Lee Jae-myung faction members have directly targeted him, retorting that "party leadership is short."

Reporter Park Jae-yeon has the story.

[Reporter]

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

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

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

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

[Hwang Myung-sun/Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party: Many people call this a shameless leadership. I urge you to take a responsible stance.]

They also countered Representative Jung's remark that "the people are eternal, and regimes are short" by saying:

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

In response, the pro-Jung faction sharpened its blade against Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, who is considered a strong contender for party leadership against Representative Jung.

[Moon Jeong-bok/Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party: 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 winners for two consecutive days.]

The "one-member, one-vote" system for all party members, which equalized the voting weight of delegates and regular party members, is considered Representative Jung's signature policy. When Representatives Jeon Hyun-hee and Kim Nam-hee publicly pointed out the need for supplementary measures to reflect the sentiments of young people and moderates, Representative Jung shared a media report mentioning the two lawmakers on social media and retorted that "the one-member, one-vote system is democracy itself."

The two lawmakers pushed back, stating, "We received abusive language and text bombs all night due to public targeting," and "We demand an apology and clarification."

Regarding Representative Jung's declaration on social media yesterday that he would "completely abolish the prosecution's supplementary investigation rights," Minister of Justice Jung Sung-ho held a press conference and clearly expressed his opposition, stating, "If the prosecution does not touch investigations at all, is there an alternative to protect victims?" and added, "We cannot entrust all investigations to the police."

(Video coverage: 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.