Jin Joong-kwon, a professor at Dongyang University. [Yonhap]
Jin Joong-kwon, a professor at Dongyang University. [Yonhap]

Jin Joong-kwon, a professor at Dongyang University, has leveled sharp criticism at President Lee Jae Myung's governance and the factional tensions within the ruling camp.

Writing on his Facebook page Sunday, Jin said the pace of Lee's decline was alarming. "I could understand it if we were three or four years into the administration, but the speed of collapse is far too steep just a year and a few months in," he wrote. "Looking at polls from the same period, his numbers are similar to Yoon Suk Yeol's — or even slightly lower."

Jin said a post Lee had made on X suggested the president had lost touch with reality. "Reading what he put on X, it seems like he has completely lost his sense of reality," he wrote. "About six months before the martial law declaration, I wrote that Yoon Suk Yeol had left reality behind and confined himself to a virtual world of his own — I get the same ominous feeling now."

Jin then said Lee appeared to inhabit a different universe from ordinary citizens. "Not long ago, with housing prices soaring, he was telling people to 'prepare for a housing price crash.' Now, with his approval rating hitting rock bottom, he's talking about a 'structural majority,'" he wrote. "Either way, it seems he lives in a different universe from the rest of us."

Lee had posted on X on Saturday, writing: "Reform inevitably invites backlash, but without reform there is no backlash either. The biggest obstacle to reform is using the name of reform to obstruct it."

President Lee Jae Myung. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung. [Yonhap]

Jin also weighed in on the internal divisions within the ruling camp. "Whether you call it reform or revolution, all of that is beside the point — the core issue is one thing," he wrote. "Is it Lee Jae Myung of the Democratic Party, or the Democratic Party of Lee Jae Myung? That is the source of the conflict playing out among supporters."

Jin described two competing factions. One group — which he referred to by a portmanteau nickname for five figures associated with the liberal establishment, namely former President Moon Jae-in, Cho Kuk, Kim Eui-jun, Jung Chung-rae and Yoo Si-min — believes the Democratic Party comes before the president, that they represent its mainstream, and that they were the ones who put Lee in power. The other faction, the pro-Lee camp, holds that the president comes before the party and that, because they support him, they are the party's new owners.

Jin said the first group would tolerate Lee serving as president but would not stand by while he used the office for personal ends at the expense of the party. "They know that if Lee pursues this, the Democratic Party will be ruined," he wrote. "They will support or accept Lee as an individual carrying out the presidency, but they will not sit back and watch him burn through the Democratic Party's very foundation for personal gain."

Turning to the latest cabinet reshuffle, Jin identified the nomination of Kim Seung-won as minister of justice as the central issue. "In this reshuffle, everything else is peripheral — Kim Seung-won is the core," he wrote. "The president will appoint Kim no matter what, and Kim will pursue the withdrawal of indictments no matter what." Jin predicted that would push Lee's approval rating even lower and send him straight into lame-duck status.

Jin urged Lee to abandon several of his current pursuits. "Give up the withdrawal of indictments, give up the constitutional reform for a second term, and stop the divisive politics," he wrote. "Put a cast on your finger so you are not tempted by social media, stop the self-glorification and the performative micromanagement, and just work humbly, honestly and diligently — retiring with the people's affection is the right answer."

Jin added: "Do not destroy the national system just to save yourself, and after you leave office, stand trial like any other citizen. Even if you are found guilty, the people will not keep a president they loved in prison for long. Walk the right path."


choigo@heraldcorp.com