The DP needs deep soul searching to survive

Only when the party change itself in a revolutionary way can it regain the public trust it lost long ago.

The Democratic Party (DP) is going out of control. Internal chaos of the majority party has been deepening over the repeated cryptocurrency trading by Rep. Kim Nam-kook during legislative sessions, its fandom-based politics, and the disclosure of nearly 20 members suspected of having received cash ahead of the 2021 national convention to elect a new party leader. Even its current leader Lee Jae-myung will be arraigned by the prosecution once again for questioning him over his potential involvement in the suspicious redevelopment project in Baekhyen-dong, Seongnam, not to mention its ongoing investigation into his pressure to Ssangbangwool Group to send $8 million to North Korea in return for favors and for his possible reward trip to Pyongyang as Gyeonggi governor.

On top of that, the party’s innovation committee Chair Kim Eun-kyung stepped down Thursday after triggering one controversy after another with her derogatory remarks about the elderly and her family troubles. But the last recommendation from the committee will likely fuel an internal conflict between the pro-Lee faction and opponents after announcing biased nomination rules for the next parliamentary elections to help strengthen the say of pro-Lee members of the party.

The failure of the innovation committee was preordained from the start. Comprised of mostly pro-Lee members, the committee could not deal with the mushrooming judicial risks of the boss. Even its first reform proposal of giving up lawmakers’ immunity from being arrested during legislative sessions were denied by the DP leader himself who attached a laughable condition — as long as prosecutors request a “legitimate” arrest warrant.

How could the committee change the party under such circumstances? The approval rating for the DP plunges again with the gap with the governing People Power Party (PPP) ever widening. Voters in the Seoul Metropolitan area, including the moderates, have started withdrawing their support for the majority party holding 169 seats in the 300-member National Assembly.

The DP must squarely face the grim reality. It has been championing democracy, human rights, peace and considerations for the underprivileged. But the party has been engrossed in only attacking the government and fighting among themselves with no attention to the tough livelihoods of the public.

The people have no interest in the innovative ideas for the DP. Genuine reform for the party is only possible when it removes all the negative practices of the past — such as railroading partisan bills, using pathetic double standards, and safeguarding its chief no matter what. Only when the party is born again can it regain the public trust it lost long ago. Chairman Lee must make public what he will do to reshape the embattled party from now.