There’s No Stopping Tae Yong-ho: “My Belief” He Says of His Words Disparaging Kim Gu

Kim Gi-hyeon, Lips Pursed: People Power Party (PPP) leader Kim Gi-hyeon attends a meeting of the PPP Supreme Council at the National Assembly on April 24. Mun Jae-won

On April 24, Tae Yong-ho (pictured below), a member of the People Power Party’s Supreme Council, spoke on his controversial remark that Baekbeom Kim Gu “was taken advantage of in Kim Il-sung’s united front strategy” and said, “I only spoke according to my belief when it came to history matters.” Tae aimed at Jeon Kwang-hoon, a pastor at Sarang Jeil Church and said, “I did not beg in the party convention.” His words still have the potential to spark controversy, since they could have been intended for party leader Kim Gi-hyeon, who admitted that they sought the pastor for support in the party convention.

On Monday, Tae appeared at the Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly for the first time in a week and said, “I was not present in the last Supreme Council meeting because of personal reasons, and not because of someone’s request,” and added, “In the current situation, I don’t have a reason why I should not attend a Supreme Council meeting.”

Tae was absent from the Supreme Council meeting on April 20. People guessed that he was remaining silent since he had stirred a series of heated debates on the JMS text message aimed at the Democratic Party of Korea and the distorted views on Kim Gu. On Monday, Tae said, “Criticizing the opposition party as the ‘junk, money, sex’ Democratic Party was just an incident and as for the issue of history, I spoke my beliefs.”

Tae continued and said, “In the last convention, I started at last place with 3% of support in the polls, but still, I did not go around begging.” He further said, “Despite that Jeon attacked me saying that I was like a spy, I refused the advice of people around me telling me to quickly call Jeon and ask him to refrain. I will trust the support of the great party members and perform all my duties.” Tae said he wanted to address Jeon and said, “If you want to help the Yoon Suk-yeol government, then keep quiet. I ask that you stop actions that harm our party, which must fight against the Democratic Party.”

Tae’s mention of his not begging in the party convention appears to be aimed at the party leader Kim Gi-hyeon. On April 21, Kim spoke on the press coverage claiming that he received help from Jeon in the party leader election on March 8 and said, “It is true that we did ask for help.” When reporters asked shortly after the Supreme Council meeting if his words were aimed at Kim, Tae said, “Just accept my words as they are.” Kim met with reporters and expressed his discomfort at Tae’s remark asking, “How can I interpret what he said? You should go and ask him.”