[Anchor]

The Democratic Party held a lawmakers' workshop aimed at unity, but during the event, Party Leader Kim Min-seok publicly stated that it is difficult to compromise on party lines with former Leader Chung Chung-rae. Immediately after Kim's remarks, former Leader Chung posted a rebuttal calling them violent rhetoric.

Reporter Park Jae-yeon has the details.

[Reporter]

At the Democratic Party lawmakers' workshop held yesterday in Incheon.

Party Leader Kim Min-seok presented a plaque of appreciation to former Leader Chung Chung-rae, his competitor at the August 17 national convention.

However, while explaining the party's platform, Leader Kim recounted a conversation he had with former Leader Chung at the National Assembly plenary chamber the day before yesterday, highlighting their differing stances.

[Kim Min-seok / Democratic Party Leader: Our Representative Chung Chung-rae is a representative believer in the theory that "there is no center." Since this is simply his own argument, it is not an issue of good versus evil, nor is it a matter of evaluation.]

Expressing confidence that President Lee Jae-myung likely shares a similar view regarding his own theory of expanding toward the center-right, Kim lamented that it is difficult to compromise with former Leader Chung's philosophy prioritizing the unity of the progressive bloc.

[Kim Min-seok / Democratic Party Leader: Because these are differences in judgment, we reached a provisional conclusion that it is somewhat difficult to compromise with each other.]

Three hours after Leader Kim mentioned former Leader Chung by name seven times, the former leader posted a lengthy rebuttal on social media.

He sharp-edgedly criticized that he only spoke with Leader Kim for one to two minutes the day before yesterday, and that for Kim to repeatedly mention the real name of his competitor from the recent national convention just to say what he wanted to say was "violent."

He also explained that his previous remark that "there is no center" meant that the center supports the ruling party when it acts like a ruling party and the opposition party when it acts like an opposition party, while throwing out words targeting Leader Kim such as displeasure, insult, and rudeness.

In response, Leader Kim wrote on social media that he also respects former Leader Chung's remarks and arguments, while expressing regret for causing discomfort and asking for understanding.

The direct clash between the current and former party leaders just ten days after the national convention, at a workshop ostensibly promoting unity, has left the internal party atmosphere unsettled.

(Photo courtesy of Yonhap News)
(Video reporting: Oh Young-chun, Shin Dong-hwan | Video editing: Jang Hyun-ki)