"Leading the Opposition to KORUS FTA"... 'Legitimacy, Sycophant, and Exhumation' Clash

[Anchor]

With the Democratic Party set to elect its next leader, a fierce debate over so-called political legitimacy is heating up among the candidates. As they dig into each other's past records, the discussion has even reached back 20 years to the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), with inflammatory terms like "sycophant" and "exhumation" being thrown around.

Reporter Ha Jeongyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

On June 29, Representative Song Young-gil directly attacked former party leader Jung Chung-rae, claiming that he "turned his back on former President Roh Moo-hyun and could not even attend his funeral."

After Jung refuted the claim as untrue, Song expressed his apologies yesterday, June 30.

However, Song continued his offensive against Jung, pointing out that when former President Roh was pushing for the KORUS FTA, most of the ruling party lawmakers were fiercely opposed to it, with Jung at the forefront, whereas he himself had consistently supported the FTA initiative.

The issue of the prosecution's supplementary investigation rights, which Jung has demanded 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, creating a structure where the party and the President are in conflict.]

Song also criticized writer Rhyu Si-min, who had compared President Lee Jae-myung's moderate expansionist path to "reconstruction," calling him a "sycophant" for blocking new people from approaching the leader.

Former leader Jung Chung-rae, who identifies 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 urged, "Let's stop this exhaustive debate."

Representative Choi Min-hee, who is close to Jung, also criticized the move as a "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 the Promotion of 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 Jae-myung leadership candidate, had sided with candidate Chung Mong-joon at the time.

Yesterday, June 30, President Lee Jae-myung praised Prime Minister Kim, who attended what was effectively his final cabinet meeting, with a round of applause for 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 continue to work with all my might in the party and the National Assembly.]

As concerns grow within the Democratic Party over a "legitimacy debate" trapped in the past, attention is also focused on what message President Lee and former President Moon Jae-in might deliver to the Democratic Party during their luncheon today, July 1.

(Reported by Oh Young-chun | Video by Nam Il | Graphics by Lee Jong-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.