- Lee Jin-sook insulted the spirit of the May 18 Democratic Movement... Honam residents must have been hurt
- Planning to push for Lee Jin-sook's expulsion if no convincing explanation is provided
- No Kim Min-seok and Choi Min-hee two-shot? Uninterested in how I appear in the media
- Confident that party leader candidates will professionally join hands and move on to Act 2
- "Camera-blocking"? Staff member was just flustered... I wasn't even at the scene
- Felt OhmyNews was a promotional broadcast for Kim Min-seok... most unfair
- Bias report released... will quietly hold them legally accountable
- Shaking up party leadership with provocative language was the cause of defeat in the Pyeongtaek election
- Think next leadership only needs to avoid "Lee Un-ju-style behavior"
- Seo Mi-hwa accomplished a lot with Jung Chung-rae... but evaluates him harshly
- Over Pyeongtaek election "money lending business" controversy... why wasn't Jung Chung-rae firm?
- "Three-party secret alliance" suspicion? Blaming it all on Jung Chung-rae
- Fall in President Lee's approval rating is a temporary phenomenon caused by Kim Min-seok's divisive tactics
 
■ Broadcast: SBS Kim Tae-hyun's Politics Show (FM 103.5 MHz 7:00 ~ 9:00 AM)
■ Date: August 14, 2026 (Friday)
■ Host: Attorney Kim Tae-hyun
■ Guest: Democratic Party Lawmaker Choi Min-hee (Supreme Council Candidate)
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: The Democratic Party's national convention is now just three days away. We have truly entered the final stretch of the race. Today, we speak with Choi Min-hee, candidate for the Democratic Party's Supreme Council. Hello, Lawmaker.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Hello. This is Choi Min-hee, candidate number 1.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Lawmaker, how are things going for you?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: I don't know.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Why? Last time you were on, you said things were going well.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Pardon?
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: You spoke positively back then, but suddenly you say you don't know, even though you are currently in first place.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: First of all, only about 30% has finished so far. 70% still remains, and there are so many variables. I have never predicted the outcome.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Before we dive deep into the national convention, let's address one current issue. Yesterday, Lawmaker Lee Jin-sook of the People Power Party held a forum at the National Assembly regarding May 18. She said, "May 18 is not a sanctuary. We need to discuss various perspectives." There were raised voices, profanities, and quite a bit of chaos there. In the Democratic Party, they said they would move to expel her or submit an expulsion motion. How do you view this situation? First of all, the People Power Party also distanced itself, saying that a personal forum has nothing to do with the party.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: From the People Power Party's perspective, their basic stance has been a "westward expansion policy" to continuously court the Honam region. Since this act pours cold water on that, the People Power Party itself must be embarrassed. But above all, it is an anti-democratic behavior that insults the spirits of May 18, their bereaved families, and the living pro-democracy activists associated with May 18. More than anything, I worry that the people of Honam were deeply hurt. Nonetheless, the vast majority of National Assembly members agree on inscribing the spirit of May 18 into the preamble of the Constitution.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Yes.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: And unless Lawmaker Lee Jin-sook provides a convincing explanation, I intend to push for her expulsion as well.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Is that so? Expulsion if there is no convincing explanation.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: At that event, Mr. Lee Young-hoon even went as far as using derogatory expressions, calling us "children of concubines" or something similar. Those are truly absurd expressions. Therefore, May 18 is a symbol of democratization to the extent that debate over whether it is a sanctuary or not is completely unnecessary.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: I see. Let's talk about the national convention. You are currently in first place. Although the Honam, Seoul metropolitan area, and public opinion surveys still remain, do you still expect to become the Chief Supreme Council member?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: I have never even expected that.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Really?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: I have never once asked to be made the Chief Supreme Council member.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: That is true. You haven't directly expressed it.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Yes. Rather, I've said that a reformist leadership must be formed. Also, because I believe the Democratic Party is currently in chaos in various ways and facing a crisis, I view this as a time when we need to maintain our balance with the "Lee Hae-chan spirit." Only then can we do everything well. That is why, rather than focusing on me, I have only asked people to throw their support behind Candidate Jung Chung-rae.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Yesterday, Candidate Park Sun-won, who is currently in second place, was interviewed by us. He said that a "two-shot" of Party Leader Kim Min-seok and Chief Supreme Council Member Choi Min-hee wouldn't work, and that it should be him—that a Kim Min-seok and Park Sun-won pairing would look much better.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: I have little interest in such things.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: When you say you're not interested...
 
▶Choi Min-hee: By interest, I mean my mind doesn't operate around how I appear in the media or things like a "two-shot." I just think that once this primary ends, among the three party leader candidates in the Democratic Party, one is a six-term lawmaker, and the other two are four-term lawmakers—and those four-term lawmakers are no ordinary four-termers either.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: That's true.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: One is someone who went through hardship during 18 years out of politics before making a comeback, and the other has had an alternating record. Otherwise, he would be a six-term lawmaker by now, but he lost once in between and suffered an unfair cutoff before running as a party leader candidate now. That's why I say they are professionals. What is a professional? A professional is someone who focuses on the task in front of them without clinging to emotions or the past. So I don't think Supreme Council candidates are major variables; I am confident that the party leader candidates will professionally join hands and move forward together toward the success of the Lee Jae-myung administration and victory in the general election once the primary is over.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Will it go well? But yesterday, remarks about "goldfish IQ" came up, and questions like "Did Kim Min-seok order this, or is that just your personality?" were tossed around. In a situation like this, it seems to be escalating into personal attacks.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: There have been national conventions where even harsher words were said.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Really?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Yes. Nonetheless, I say that the Democratic Party knows how to move on to Act 2 once a single theatrical stage ends—once Act 1 finishes.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: So you mean the party leader candidates should work things out well among themselves.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Of course.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: On the flip side, if you become a Supreme Council member and Candidate Jung Chung-rae becomes party leader, you two would be a great match. But if Candidate Kim Min-seok becomes party leader, could you harmonize and work smoothly together?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: But that question is very political in nature, because we don't operate based on things like "it was like this or that in the past."
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: We must look to the future.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Yes. There are heaps of tasks to solve. For instance, what to do about real estate, and we also have to determine our stance on the recently announced tax reform. We'll be too busy studying those issues to act emotionally.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Because the ruling party needs to deliver results.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Of course.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: I understand what you mean. Now regarding the Supreme Council, who will catch the last train? Currently, Candidate Kim Yong seems slightly ahead. Do you think Candidate Lee Seong-yun, the last member of the so-called "Team Jung Chung-rae," can overtake Candidate Kim Yong and secure 5th place?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: I hope so. However, that result is chosen solely by Honam and the Seoul metropolitan area. I shouldn't make a prediction today that turns out to be wrong in a couple of days. So I just hope that will be the case.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: In any case, since the primary began up until now, Candidate Choi Min-hee has consistently led in 1st place for the Supreme Council. Naturally, focus centers on the front-runner in any election, but that isn't always a good thing. You get attacked a lot. Having faced various attacks, were there any that you found truly unbearable or hard to accept?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: I am really sorry, but a candidate has too much to do. And because I have to rush around in the field, I don't know about every single one of those issues right now. Since I am the type to always review everything later, if there are falsehoods or distortions in that process, I will definitely hold them legally accountable. But right now, I can't look at all of that.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Yes.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Especially when people report to me that many things are appearing on YouTube, I tell them not to report them to me. Because I tell them I can't watch them all right now. And while I see those as attempts to tarnish my image and reduce my votes, the people who support me are generally not the "New Lee Jae-myung" members who joined recently.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: The traditional ones.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Because they are the traditional support base, they vote looking at my entire life. So I wish people wouldn't do that. I think it would be better if candidates just spoke about their own strengths.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: I see. Recently, there was a clash between OhmyNews and your staff members.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: It was with the staff, yes.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: To be precise, at the joint speech event on August 8, your staff member covered the camera of the OhmyNews reporting team with paper, causing controversy. OhmyNews is saying, "What is this, 'camera-blocking'? Apologize." What is your stance on this?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: I was not at the scene. Although I have worked as a reporter, I feel this is a tough matter, similar to what detectives face, because it's difficult to grasp the full context of the scene.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Yes.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: But in any case, taking only that snippet out of context is problematic. A camera was suddenly thrust right at our female 8th-grade aide to record her, so she got flustered and covered it. She is not a public figure, and that action came out of being flustered. I feel that OhmyTV exhibited the most unfair attitude during this whole process.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: So-called OhmyNews is an outlet friendly to the Democratic Party, not one of the major conservative papers like Chosun, JoongAng, or DongA.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: I don't know about the past. I don't know about the past, but as it unfolds currently. And it felt extremely friendly toward Candidate Kim Min-seok—almost like a promotional broadcast. So it was unfair during that process, that unfairness continued, and this problem arose out of that process. As for me, since I wasn't at the scene, I will investigate later and respond to all of it.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Is that why you said OhmyTV should stay out of the national convention?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Yes. It turns out I'm not the only one with this awareness. I heard that an internal report within OhmyNews pointed out that OhmyTV was biased.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Really?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Yes.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: When you say you will set it right, media reform is something Candidate Choi Min-hee has always considered important in your legislative activities, isn't it?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: This is not on the level of media reform. I don't know if it was biased behavior by that camera operator. And I believe OhmyNews can support a specific candidate. I have always maintained that position. However, it must be based on facts. For example, headlines like "Choi Min-hee's 'mouth-gagging'"—how could I do that when I wasn't even there? So my point is that we are taking screenshots of all those things and holding them legally accountable.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: So after becoming a Supreme Council member, rather than brushing this aside, you will formally raise issues and resolve—
 
▶Choi Min-hee: I won't raise issues publicly.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Root it out completely?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: I will just quietly hold them legally accountable.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Once you become a Supreme Council member?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Yes. First of all, I wasn't at that spot, so how could I block anything?
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Politically speaking, while I understand the female staff member was flustered at the time, do you have any slight regret that it would have been better if she had used a different approach or method?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: No, because I don't know the exact situation right now. Even if a staff member were older, having the media point a camera at them is intimidating, and she seems to have been extremely flustered. So she is having a very hard time right now, and it's not a situation where I should confront her and ask, "Why did you do that?" I will ask her after some time passes.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: I see. The candidates of the so-called "Team Kim Min-seok" commonly claim that the previous leadership won't work—meaning a "Jung Chung-rae Season 2" is unacceptable. How do you view that assertion?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: I believe that a leadership like the previous one, where Supreme Council members like Lee Un-ju shook up the party leader at every turn, truly will not work.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: In that sense and meaning?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Yes. Because even regarding the merger issue alone, I cannot forgive the actions of Lee Un-ju, Kang Deok-gu, and others. Wasn't Supreme Council member Lee Un-ju the one talking about "two suns"? Why bring up "two suns" all of a sudden? Shaking up the leadership and the party with provocative language—that was the cause of the defeat in Pyeongtaek during the local elections.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Yes.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: As for the next leadership I envision, no matter who becomes party leader or Supreme Council member, the primary goal is simply not to act like Lee Un-ju.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: First of all, the leadership must be a "one team." Right?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: "One team" is an outcome. Shaking up the party leader with provocative language for the sake of personal politics is something that must never be done.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: In the next leadership.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Yes, that is what I think.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: So in that sense, you agree that the previous leadership had issues?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Yes, I do.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Of course, from Candidate Kim Min-seok and the "Team Kim Min-seok" side, saying the previous leadership won't work is pointing at Representative Jung Chung-rae.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: But for example, in the case of Candidate Seo Mi-hwa, when she was the head of the Disability Committee last year, Representative Jung Chung-rae accepted proposals from Candidate Seo Mi-hwa and others to establish a Bureau for the Disabled. As a result, for the first time in the Democratic Party's history, a Bureau for the Disabled was created. So a lot was accomplished during Representative Jung Chung-rae's tenure, yet suddenly when Candidate Kim Min-seok ran, Candidate Jung Chung-rae strangely took the blame. My principle is to always evaluate based on what was achieved. During Candidate Jung Chung-rae's leadership, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Commercial Act amendments were all completed. And regarding increasing Supreme Court justices, unimaginable achievements were made. Also, the bill that the People Power Party criticized as a "fourth-instance trial system" was all done under the Jung Chung-rae system. So 99% of the tasks were accomplished. When a difference of opinion arises on just 1%, I cannot agree that he should be evaluated so poorly and harshly. Rather, although I don't know the exact circumstances, when the word "money lending business" came out in Pyeongtaek, I was so shocked that I couldn't even think straight about Pyeongtaek after that. I think it's the first time the word "money lending business" surfaced among Democratic Party candidates. My question remains: why wasn't he firm at that time?
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Representative Jung Chung-rae at the time, you mean.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Yes. So I am just curious as to why that was.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: I see. Yesterday, you held an emergency press conference. You demanded that Candidate Kim Min-seok disclose the evidence for his claims targeting Candidate Jung Chung-rae regarding a "three-party secret alliance of anti-Lee Jae-myung, factionalism, and Shincheonji." What was the meaning behind this?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Candidate Kim Min-seok said at the preliminary candidate joint speech event—which really shocked me—"Breaking the three-party secret alliance of anti-Lee, factionalism, and Shincheonji is the essence of this national convention." He used the word "essence." Since he said it was the "essence," rather than just saying he wasn't sure if such a thing existed, if there is indeed a secret alliance joining hands with a cult like Shincheonji to intervene in the convention, that would be a dangerous organization driving the party toward an unconstitutional status. So I said let's crush it together and demanded he produce evidence immediately. I kept making this demand, but since he blurred the point and avoided answering, I asked again. And above all, all the reporters I met said that Lee Un-ju's Telegram chat partner was Candidate Kim Min-seok. Yet he denies it himself, so Newsis should quickly reveal it. What is going on in South Korea right now?
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Yes.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Also, on Kang Deok-gu's Facebook, it says, "I spoke with a certain Senior Secretary and found a gap with the Prime Minister's views." That remains on Kang Deok-gu's Facebook, yet blaming even that Facebook post on Representative Jung Chung-rae makes me wonder why such things are happening. I have never seen anything like this in a Democratic Party leadership election regarding a specific candidate. Why doesn't Newsis reveal that Telegram chat? Who is that Cabinet member? Reveal it quickly. You need to release the source quickly. For example, according to Candidate Kim Min-seok's words right now, all the reporters are wrong.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Yes.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Every candidate I met—yesterday, too, I spoke with a reporter on the phone. They were debating back and forth. Then all reporters are wrong, and most people in the cabinet suspect Candidate Kim Min-seok as well, right? So we are all wrong. Listening to their statements, the tone, secret pacts, target points, and phrases like "no party name change" and "no division of spoils"—those exact expressions like "no party name change" and "no division of spoils" appeared when Candidate Kim Min-seok announced some 4-point statement. The identical phrasing came up then.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Is that so?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: So I thought it was him, but since he denies it, I hope Newsis will quickly disclose it to correct my misunderstanding.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Understood. This will likely be the last question. Reports about the President's golf gathering with senior opposition lawmakers have been published continuously in JoongAng Ilbo yesterday and Chosun Ilbo today. How do you view the President holding golf gatherings with senior People Power Party lawmakers?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Even though the President is so busy, he wants to reform livelihoods for bipartisan cooperation. I am very grateful for and view such golf gatherings positively.

▷Kim Tae-hyun: Let me ask one more thing. The President's approval rating is low. Candidate Jung Chung-rae says it's because the core support base pulled away, while Candidate Kim Min-seok says if they pull away over this, can they really be called a core support base? The interpretations are contrasting. How do you view this?
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Rather than those interpretations, my view on why the rating dropped is that during the national convention process, Candidate Kim Min-seok drove a wedge between pro-Lee Jae-myung and anti-Lee Jae-myung factions, causing the traditional support base to react with backlash, thinking, "Am I anti-Lee?" That created a temporary tendency to refrain from responding to opinion polls.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Yes.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Next, as for the drop among moderates, stock prices have been fluctuating heavily recently, real estate is moving, and when the tax reform proposal comes out, there are people who dislike it. I see that part of the drop came from moderates stepping back due to these issues. In the former case, I believe it will be resolved if we all declare together at an appropriate time that "we are all pro-Lee Jae-myung." However, real estate and stock prices are truly not easy to solve, so I think we can address them if we all work together.
 
▷Kim Tae-hyun: Understood. We will conclude here. We have been speaking with Lawmaker Choi Min-hee, candidate for Supreme Council of the Democratic Party. Thank you.
 
▶Choi Min-hee: Thank you.

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