Myeong-Cheong Showdown Begins... Clashing Over 'Shincheonji Intervention Suspicions'

[Anchor]

With the final lineup set for next month's Democratic Party national convention, the so-called "Myeong-Cheong showdown" between the pro-Lee Jae-myung faction and the pro-Jung Chung-rae faction has officially begun. The two sides openly clashed over the "suspicions of Shincheonji's intervention."

Reporter Park Jae-yeon has the details.

[Reporter]

The Democratic Party finalized the final convention lineup through the preliminary primaries the day before yesterday (the 23rd).

The three-way race for party leader features pro-Lee Jae-myung candidates Kim Min-seok and Song Young-gil forming a de facto joint front, creating a dynamic where incumbent Jung Chung-rae, seeking consecutive terms, faces off against the pro-Lee candidates.

In the Supreme Council race, five pro-Lee Jae-myung candidates and three pro-Jung Chung-rae candidates will compete for the final five seats.

As a result of the preliminary primaries, five out of 11 broad pro-Lee candidates advanced to the finals, while all three pro-Jung candidates made it through.

Pro-Lee lawmakers Park Sung-jun and Lee Kun-tae, who led the "Movement for the Withdrawal of Indictments in the Democratic Party Presidential Incident," were eliminated.

Inside and outside the party, many analyses suggest that the supporters of candidate Jung Chung-rae rallied together during the preliminary primaries.

However, during yesterday's Democratic Party leadership meeting, a pro-Lee Supreme Council member seemingly targeted the pro-Jung faction by bringing up the "suspicions of the religious group Shincheonji's intervention in the party convention." Pro-Jung Supreme Council members fired back, demanding that they "reveal the basis," leading to an open clash between the two sides.

[Kang Duk-ku / Democratic Party Supreme Council Member (Pro-Lee Jae-myung): If external forces attempted to systematically distort the will of party members, it is something that can never be tolerated.]

[Moon Jung-bok / Democratic Party Supreme Council Member (Pro-Jung Chung-rae): An unprecedented comedy is taking place. Is there really any basis for this?]

The joint prosecution and police investigation headquarters announced yesterday that it has detected circumstances indicating Shincheonji followers in some parts of the metropolitan area joined the Democratic Party, and is investigating the possibility that they attempted to influence internal party primaries, such as the June 3 local elections.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party finalized the abolition of the prosecution's supplementary investigation authority as a party platform during a general meeting of lawmakers yesterday.

Even some pro-Lee lawmakers who had argued for its limited retention raised no objections to swift processing ahead of the national convention.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
Reported by Oh Young-chun and Lee Seung-hwan | Video by Wi Won-yang | Graphics by Kim Han-gil
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.