Lee Sang-min, “The Lee Rae-kyung Incident, If It Were the Yoon Suk-yeol Government, We Would Have Told the President to Step Down.”

On June 7, Democratic Party of Korea legislator, Lee Sang-min spoke about Lee Rae-kyung, the honorary chairman of The Tomorrow, who stepped down just nine hours after being appointed chief of the party’s innovation committee, and said, “I think it’s right for Lee Jae-myung to voluntarily resign.”

Lee made the remark when he appeared on the KBS radio show, Choi Gyeong-yeong’s Top Current Affairs, Wednesday and also said, “Even if he (Lee Jae-myung) forms an innovation committee, as the latest incident revealed, he is bound to choose a person leaning in his favor. That is second nature.”

The Democratic Party lawmaker also said, “When forming an innovation committee to overcome the crisis faced by the Democratic Party, things completely went awry from the first step. What would our party have said if something like this happened to the prime minister or ministers? They would say it was a disastrous appointment. If this happened to the Yoon Suk-yeol government, the party would tell the president to take responsibility and immediately resign, wouldn’t it?” He argued, “If we apply these standards on us, we (Democratic Party) too will be seen as pathetic in the eyes of the general public, the people.”

As for the process of how Lee Rae-kyung came to be appointed chief of the innovation committee, lawmaker Lee criticized, “When it came to the discussions, we were kept completely in the dark.” He further said, “The press coverage shows that even the members of the Supreme Council heard it from Lee Jae-myung during dinner the day before the announcement, and Lee Rae-kyung himself said that he was informed the day before.” The legislator criticized, “What a mess! The decision-making process of a major opposition party with 160 seats, closed and centered on only a few people.”

Lee also spoke about the party leader Lee Jae-myung and said, “He has his limitations. He made a very inappropriate response to the case of cash envelopes and the cryptocurrency case of lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk, one of his closest acquaintances.” He added, “To get rid of these problems, I think it is right for Lee (Jae-myung) to voluntarily step down.”