[Anchor]

The race for the Democratic Party's leadership ahead of the national convention in August is heating up. Amidst the so-called debate over political legitimacy, actions from 20 years ago during the signing of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) have been brought back to light, and harsh expressions such as "sycophant" and "exhumation" have been exchanged.

Report by Ha Jeongyeon.

[Reporter]

Representative Song Young-gil, who yesterday (June 29) directly targeted former Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae, claiming that he "turned his back on former President Roh Moo-hyun and could not even attend his funeral."

Following Jung's rebuttal that the claim was untrue, Song expressed his intention to apologize today.

However, he then continued his offensive against Jung, noting that when former President Roh pushed for the KORUS FTA, most ruling party lawmakers were fiercely opposed to it, with Jung at the forefront, whereas he had consistently supported the FTA initiative.

The issue of the prosecution's supplementary investigation rights, which Jung has called to be "completely abolished," was also brought to the table.

[Song Young-gil/Democratic Party Lawmaker: It is not right to 'weaponize' issues like supplementary investigation rights to create a structure where the party and the President are in conflict.]

Targeting writer Rhyu Si-min, who compared President Lee Jae-myung's moderate expansionist path to "reconstruction," Song criticized him, saying, "A sycophant is someone who blocks new people from approaching their lord."

Former leader Jung Chung-rae, who identifies himself as a "Roh Moo-hyun kid," expressed his displeasure on social media, stating, "I have never once brought up the term 'legitimate heir' myself," and added, "Let us stop this exhaustive debate."

Representative Choi Min-hee, who is close to Jung, also argued that Song is engaging in "biased exhumation," asking who would benefit and who would lose if they were to exhume things like the "Hudanhyeop."

"Hudanhyeop," an abbreviation for the Council for Promoting Candidate Unification, is a term related to the unification of candidates Roh Moo-hyun and Chung Mong-joon during the 2002 presidential election. Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, a pro-Lee leadership contender, sided with candidate Chung Mong-joon at the time.

President Lee Jae-myung today applauded Prime Minister Kim, who attended what was effectively his final cabinet meeting, praising his significant contributions.

[President Lee Jae-myung: Shall we give a round of applause to our Prime Minister who has worked so hard?]

[Kim Min-seok/Prime Minister: I will do my absolute best to work even harder in the party and the National Assembly.]

As concerns grow within the Democratic Party over the "legitimacy debate" that remains trapped in the past, attention is also focused on what message President Lee and former President Moon Jae-in will deliver to the Democratic Party when they have lunch together tomorrow.

Reported by Ha Jeongyeon | Video by Oh Young-chun | Video Editing by Nam Il | Graphics by Lee Jong-jung | Produced by SBS Digital News