Yu Si-min pushes back on President Lee's vision of an inclusive ruling party, calling it 'reconstruction, not expansion'; Song Young-gil invokes Roh-era Korea-US FTA to rebuff Yu

Jung Chung-rae, then leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, receives a book from author Yu Si-min at the opening of Agio, a handcrafted shoe brand for the hearing-impaired, at Understand Avenue in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, on April 24. [Yonhap]
Jung Chung-rae, then leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, receives a book from author Yu Si-min at the opening of Agio, a handcrafted shoe brand for the hearing-impaired, at Understand Avenue in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, on April 24. [Yonhap]

Remarks by Yu Si-min, one of the most influential voices in the liberal camp, are once again roiling the Democratic Party of Korea. Pro-Lee factions have hit back at the author and broadcaster after he criticized both President Lee Jae Myung's vision of an "inclusive and open ruling party" and the so-called "New Lee Jae Myung" coalition, darkening the mood inside the party ahead of its leadership convention.

Democratic Party lawmaker Song Young-gil said on KBS Radio Monday morning that the recent slide in approval ratings for President Lee and the party reflected disillusionment among voters who had backed Yoon Suk Yeol but later came to support Lee — people now put off by internal party strife — as well as a rapid exodus of voters in their 20s and 30s.

Earlier, Yu had said on broadcaster Kim Eui-jun's YouTube channel that supporters who had stood by and cheered for President Lee "wanted an expansion" of the party's base, but that "the president seems to have been aiming for a reconstruction." His remarks suggested that Lee was trying to reorganize the ruling camp around the "New Lee Jae Myung" base while sidelining supporters loyal to former presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in. Yu also said the current situation resembled "an autoimmune disease."

Song rebuffed Yu by drawing a parallel to the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement. "When former President Roh Moo-hyun pushed the Korea-US FTA, the so-called core base — people from the activist movement, labor and farmers' groups — fiercely opposed it, but I consistently supported it," Song said. "Looking back now, wasn't it a major achievement that former President Roh pursued the Korea-US FTA?"

Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, who is also considered a contender for the party leadership alongside Song and former leader Jung Chung-rae, took aim at Yu as well. Speaking to reporters at a Democratic Party workshop for women elected in the June 3 local elections on Friday, Kim said that anyone criticizing the president out of an excessive sense of self-importance — as if they personally "made the president" — needed to show more restraint. "When it goes too far, it can become noise," he said. Lawmakers Lee Geon-tae, Jeong Jin-uk and Chae Hyeon-il, all from the pro-Lee faction, also reacted sharply to Yu's comments.

Tensions among the leadership contenders continue to simmer. Song said Jung could not credibly claim the mantle of "Roh Moo-hyun's political heir," noting that Jung had fallen out completely with the former president and had not even attended his funeral. "When it comes to Roh Moo-hyun's political lineage, I don't know about others, but at the very least Jung cannot make that claim," Song said. Jung pushed back on Facebook, calling the assertion "100 percent false." "I of course paid my respects and attended," he wrote, demanding an apology.


sunpine@heraldcorp.com