Vehicle Attack and Shincheonji Controversy: The Intensifying 'Competition'

[Anchor]

As the Democratic Party's national convention to elect a new party leader approaches, the rivalry among candidates is intensifying. Former party leader Jung Chung-rae has revealed that the vehicle he was riding in was attacked.

Reporter Park Jae-yeon has the story.

[Reporter]

Ahead of the August 17 national convention, the Democratic Party will narrow down its five party leader candidates to three tomorrow, July 23.

Former leader Jung Chung-rae launched an offensive against former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, a pro-Lee Jae-myung figure, by citing his past remarks, claiming that Kim had criticized President Lee Jae-myung four years ago.

[Jung Chung-rae / Former Democratic Party Leader: The defeat in the local elections, Lee Jae-myung's responsibility, personal judgment came first. These are the contents of the attacks made by Representative Kim Min-seok against then-lawmaker Lee Jae-myung during the August 18 national convention four years ago.]

Former Prime Minister Kim, who has been sharpening his criticism day after day against the former leader for allegedly inciting division within the party, raised issues such as the failure to introduce a special counsel investigation into the Shincheonji religious group during Jung's tenure.

[Kim Min-seok / Former Prime Minister: The essence of this national convention is to break the secret tripartite alliance of anti-Lee sentiment, divisionism, and Shincheonji... I am pointing out things one by one, such as the fact that the special counsel investigation into Shincheonji did not proceed.]

Former leader Jung declared that he would take legal action against the allegations regarding his ties to Shincheonji, which have been raised by some within the party, labeling them as false and manipulated information.

Meanwhile, Jung's side stated that after the first joint speech session the day before yesterday, the vehicle he was in was subjected to threats and violence, including kicking, and that the police are currently investigating the damage to the vehicle.

Kim Bo-mi, former member of the Gangjin County Council in South Jeolla Province, also demanded an apology from Representative Song Young-gil, claiming that he shouted at her after she questioned his eligibility as a candidate.

[Kim Bo-mi / Former Gangjin County Council Member: I ask that you please apologize for shouting at me in front of so many people. Isn't it because these kinds of incidents pile up that young people call the Democratic Party an unfair party and a 686-era out-of-touch party?]

Representative Song's side did not release any specific statement regarding this matter.

(Video coverage: Oh Young-chun, Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Park Sun-soo)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.