![Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Nam-hee. [Newsis]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/15/news-p.v1.20260615.b3e69c6d314f4b92aa8ef169ae820895_P1.jpg)
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Nam-hee pushed back sharply against party leader Jung Chung-rae after he publicly called her out by name.
Speaking on CBS Radio's "Park Sung-tae's News Show" on Sunday, Kim said she had "extremely strong reservations" about the party leader raising concerns by naming a fellow lawmaker in public without any prior communication. "He did not reach out to me at all before singling me out by name," she said.
The dispute began after Kim posted a message suggesting that the Democratic Party's proposed one-person, one-vote system needed refinement. Jung responded by sharing on his Facebook page the headlines of news articles that named both Rep. Jeon Hyun-hee and Kim, writing that the one-person, one-vote system "is democracy itself." Kim subsequently received a flood of abusive text messages, and a YouTuber went so far as to publicly post her mobile phone number.
Kim said her post had not been intended to oppose or reject the one-person, one-vote system. "It was an open-ended call for discussion on how we might better reflect the voices of people in their 20s and 30s when the current system falls short of doing so," she said.
She said people in their 20s make up less than half their proportional share of party membership, while those in their 50s account for more than twice their share. Her concern is that fully implementing the one-person, one-vote system could result in voters in their 50s being vastly overrepresented relative to those in their 20s.
Kim also said neither Jung nor anyone else in the party leadership had offered her any explanation. "Not the party leader, not a single member of the leadership — no one said anything to me about this," she said, adding that she considered the approach "undemocratic" and an obstacle to healthy debate and communication within the party.
"Diverse opinions and debate are entirely possible and necessary for the party's growth," she said. "Silencing those voices through public shaming and online pile-ons stands in the way of that growth."
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