Innovation at a standstill for the fourth week in the Democratic Party: Kim Eun-kyung says point-blank, “We’re going to die”

Red Lights on Innovation in the Democratic Party: Kim Eun-kyung, head of the innovation committee in the Democratic Party of Korea, speaks on the direction of the committee’s future activities at a meeting with the press at the National Assembly on July 12. Seong Dong-hun

The Democratic Party of Korea’s innovation committee led by Kim Eun-kyung has failed to make its presence be felt since it launched four weeks ago. The reason is that the party’s leadership has brushed aside the committee’s requests for them to uncover the truth about the envelopes of cash distributed in the party convention, to give up their privileges from arrest, and to prevent the withdrawal of party membership for deceptive purposes. The committee was criticized for falling far behind the innovation committee with absolute authority, which the party leader, Lee Jae-myung had promised.

In the innovation committee’s first meeting with the press at the National Assembly on July 12, the committee chief, Kim Eun-kyung announced that they would start releasing plans for innovation in the three fields of party ethics, future policy strategy, and party organization beginning July 21. For an ethical party, the committee was expected to suggest the establishment of a system that would automatically launch a probe when allegations of illegal activities by elected public officials and party officials were raised as well as restrictions on party members who try to rejoin the party after they voluntarily withdraw party membership due to allegations. Kim targeted the party leadership and said, “It is true that the issues are difficult and that they are busy, but I would like to stress once again that for the Democratic Party to win, we cannot delay active responses to the innovation committee’s recommendations.” She indirectly criticized the party leadership for postponing the execution of committee recommendations. She also said, “The Democratic Party will die if they don’t accept the innovation measures.”

The innovation committee selected the investigation of the cash envelopes handed out during the party convention in 2021 as the first task, but has failed to make any significant progress. In the committee’s first meeting on June 20, Kim said, “We need to include what went wrong during the party convention in the investigation, dig up the cause and draw up plans for reforms. We have selected this as our first agenda.”

But the ones in leadership positions seemed to deny the allegation that envelopes of cash were distributed. Lee Jae-myung met with reporters on Wednesday and criticized the prosecutors after a press coverage that claimed the prosecutors stated that twenty incumbent lawmakers had received the envelopes of cash. He argued that the prosecutors’ rightful job was not to speculate, but “to clearly uncover the facts based on evidence and inform the citizens.”

Discussions on abandoning the legislator’s privilege from arrest have also made little progress. On June 23, the innovation committee asked all the Democratic Party legislators to submit a letter stating that they would give up their privilege from arrest and to vote in favor of arrest motions in the future. But the party leadership indirectly refused the recommendation saying, “We will not seek to dismiss an arrest motion as a party.” At the National Assembly on June 12, the Democratic Party rejected arrest motions for independent lawmakers Youn Kwan-suk and Lee Sung-man, whose arrest warrants were issued for allegations linked to the envelopes of cash handed out during the party convention.

It is uncertain as to whether the party will properly handle another committee recommendation for innovation: to stop party members from withdrawing party membership for deceptive purposes. On July 7, while the innovation committee discussed ways to prevent members from withdrawing party membership with ill intentions, the Democratic Party reinstated independent lawmaker Kim Hong-gul, who was expelled for his alleged involvement in real estate speculation. Kim returned to his position two years and seven months after he was expelled from the party for not faithfully responding to an investigation by the party’s ethics inspection team.

Some people argued that the party leadership was selectively accepting proposals from the innovation committee, such as sending out prompt warnings to non-Lee Jae-myung legislators (legislators who don’t support Lee). After a private meeting of the party’s Supreme Council Thursday, the party leadership issued a warning against legislator Lee Sang-min, a non-Lee Jae-myung member, for his remark, “If you can’t join them, you need to be prepared for a delightful parting, too.” On July 6, Kim Eun-kyung targeted Lee Sang-min and said, “Don’t start anything that will shake the party and disappoint the people.”

Lee Jae-myung’s promise to give the innovation committee full power may also end up as empty words. Lawmaker Lee Sang-min appeared on BBS radio and asked, “Abandoning the privilege from arrest is a political statement and they keep attaching strings to that, so naturally wouldn’t the innovation committee be irritated?” One lawmaker said, “The party leadership accepts the innovation committee’s suggestions when they are favorable to them and ignore the ones that work against them. The innovation committee will be put to the test, if it is not prepared to criticize Lee Jae-myung’s system.”