Kim Min-seok Targets Choo Mi-ae and Rebukes Rebuilding Korea Party

▲ Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, casts his vote on the motion consenting to the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Kim Sung-soo at the 9th plenary session of the regular National Assembly at the National Assembly on September 17.

Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized the Rebuilding Korea Party after it pushed back against his proposal to lower the threshold for forming a parliamentary negotiation group from the current 20 seats to 15 seats, arguing instead that it should be set at 10 seats, saying, "No matter how you look at it, the rationale for 10 seats is unclear."

Appearing today (September 18) on "MinT 07" on the party's official YouTube channel "Minjoo Party TV," Kim said, "Rather, there are far more arguments supporting 15 seats."

Rebutting the Rebuilding Korea Party's logic that "returning to 10 seats as it was before the Yushin regime is common sense," Kim asked, "It was 20 seats ever since the system was introduced in 1949." He added, "The lowest the threshold for a negotiation group has ever been was 5% of the total number of National Assembly members. Back when there were 200 seats, it was 10 seats, so with 300 seats today, wouldn't 5% mean 15 seats?"

Even so, he explained, "(15 seats) was just an example," adding, "We can discuss a variety of options, including 10 seats."

Regarding the controversy surrounding Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae, a fellow Democratic Party member, who spent over 2 billion won in election expenses on a political consulting firm run by pro-ruling party YouTuber Park Si-young during the June 3 local elections, Kim said, "Since this concerns a contract related to a party candidate, we are watching it closely," and added, "Because it is funded with taxpayers' money, we also bear public responsibility regarding the appropriateness of the contract pricing, so we have no choice but to look into it."

Kim continued, "We will see whether that pricing was backed by appropriate content—meaning, not just the delivery of goods, but whether the consulting or content was commensurate and substantial, and whether the working-level officials were fully transparent in those relations," noting, "If issues are raised, it is something the party will have no choice but to get involved in."

Earlier, on the previous day, Kim had also said, "We are checking into cases where some polling agencies or consulting firms engaged in abnormal or immoral commercial practices targeting the party, major party figures, or elections. We are at the stage of examining whether there are any ties to the party," emphasizing, "There must be no polling or consulting cartels surrounding the party."

YouTuber Park Si-young, whom Kim mentioned, had previously caused a stir within the ruling camp during the August 17 national convention by broadcasting a photo showing President Lee Jae-myung together with Lee Hee-ja, president of the Korean Geunwoo Association, an organization linked to Shincheonji.

The timing of the photo's release overlapped with the period when Kim, who styled himself as a pro-Lee Jae-myung candidate, raised the so-called Shincheonji allegations targeting former party leader Chung.

Governor Choo had supported the former leader Chung during the national convention.

Choo recently launched a direct attack, saying, "President Lee Jae-myung is fretting while being piggybacked by insurrectionist forces," drawing strong criticism from pro-Lee figures, including Kim, who called the situation "similar to the preludes of the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun."

Referring again to the photo used on Park's YouTube channel, Kim asked, "During the national convention, wasn't there controversy regarding the Shincheonji-related photo as to whether the two really took it just like that?" He added, "While that was an issue raised back then, this one (consulting) is a new matter, so we will look into it a bit more deeply with a sense of responsibility."

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party decided to hold its Supreme Council meeting behind closed doors on this day due to President Lee Jae-myung's press conference.

Regarding this, Kim said, "After all, the center of today's news is the president's press conference," and stated that he views President Lee's press conference as "an important opportunity (for a rebound in approval ratings)."

(Photo: Yonhap News)

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