Jung Chung-rae Fires Back at Kim Min-seok: "Leaving the Party to Help Another Candidate Is the Worst Form of Self-Serving Politics"

Jung Chung-rae, a former representative of the Democratic Party of Korea, took aim at his party leadership rival, former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, stating, "The worst form of self-serving politics is engaging in old-fashioned political practices, such as leaving the party during an election to run as an independent or helping a candidate from another party."

On his Facebook page today (July 12), Jung asked rhetorically, "Even when I was unfairly cut from the nomination process, I led the 'Deokeot' campaign team and worked hard for the party's victory. I put the party before myself," adding, "Who is the one who has been engaging in self-serving politics?"

Kim had previously criticized Jung several times, claiming that Jung's "self-serving politics" had caused confusion in cooperation between the party and the government. Jung's remarks appear to be a counterattack against these criticisms.

Jung's example of the "worst form of self-serving politics" is interpreted as being directed at Kim, who was at the center of the "Hudanhyeop" (Council for Candidate Unification) incident during the 2002 presidential election, where he advocated for the unification of candidates Roh Moo-hyun and Chung Mong-joon.

The Hudanhyeop incident refers to a collective defection by anti-Roh and non-Roh lawmakers within the Democratic Party who demanded the unification of candidates with Chung Mong-joon when the approval ratings for the party's candidate, Roh Moo-hyun, were declining.

At the time, Kim joined candidate Chung's camp.

In a subsequent Facebook post, Jung shared a political cartoon from a media outlet regarding the "preferential voting system," stating, "It hurts a lot when you get beaten up. I will endure it well."

The cartoon depicted the offensive by the pro-Lee Jae-myung faction, which supports the preferential voting system for electing the party leader, as a "group beating" directed at Jung.

Although the party's national convention preparatory committee decided to introduce the preferential voting system for the party leader runoff, it has yet to pass the Supreme Council amid conflicts between the pro-Jung faction and the non-mainstream pro-Lee Jae-myung faction.

Jung and the Supreme Council members belonging to the pro-Jung faction are opposing the introduction of the preferential voting system, arguing that it violates the party's constitution and regulations.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.