Many of Lee Jae-myung’s acquaintances appointed as special aides: Is he paving the way for candidate nominations aiming to remove incumbent lawmakers?

Straightening His Tie: Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung prepares to speak at a meeting of the party’s Supreme Council at the National Assembly on August 21. Bak Min-gyu, Senior Reporter

On August 21, it was confirmed that Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung appointed as special aides many of his close acquaintances, such as the lawyers who defended him against his “legal risks” and his secretaries and the chiefs of subsidiaries and when he served as governor of Gyeonggi-do. Many of these figures are preparing to run in the local districts in the Honam region or constituencies represented by prominent lawmakers or lawmakers who do not support Lee Jae-myung. Thus, the latest appointments have stirred controversy of possible candidate nominations aiming to “remove” certain figures and of an attempt to “privatize” the party.

On August 16, Lee Jae-myung held a private meeting of special aides in the party leader office at the National Assembly and handed out letters of appointment to his aides.

The people who were appointed special aides included lawyers Bak Gyun-taek, Song Gi-ho, and Yi Geon-tae; Kim Mun-su, former executive director of the Gyeonggi Credit Guarantee Foundation; Ahn Tae-jun, former vice president of the Gyeonggi Housing & Urban Development Corporation (GH); Im Gwi-yeol, former aide in the citizen participation platform of Lee Jae-myung’s presidential election campaign; Jeong Eui-chan, former secretary general of the Gyeonggi-do Suwon World Cup Stadium Foundation; Jin Seok-beom, former president of the Gyeonggi Welfare Foundation; and Jeong Jin-wuk, former spokesperson for Lee Jae-myung’s presidential election campaign.

Bak Gyun-taek served as the head of the Gwangju High Prosecutors’ Office and the director of the Prosecution Service Bureau in the justice ministry. He was Lee’s legal representative in the cases of alleged favors connected to the Daejang-dong development project and the Seongnam Football Club donations. He was the lawyer who accompanied Lee when he appeared before the Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office on January 10 and when he appeared before the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on August 17. Reportedly, he is preparing a bid in the Gwangsan-gap district in Gwangju, currently represented by the Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yong-bin.

Yi Geon-tae is the attorney of one of Lee’s closest aides, Jeong Jin-sang, former chief of political affairs coordination in the Democratic Party. He is preparing to run in Bucheon-byeong, Gyeonggi--the constituency of (four-time) lawmaker Kim Sang-hee--in next year’s parliamentary election, following his bid in 2020.

Jin Seok-beom was the chairman of the Seongnam-si Association of Social Workers when Lee Jae-myung was the mayor of Seongnam. He will run in Hwaseong-eul, Gyeonggi, the constituency of Lee Won-wook, a three-time lawmaker who does not support Lee.

Kim Mun-su is currently active in Suncheon, Gwangyang, Gokseong, Gurye-gap in Jeollanam-do, represented by lawmaker So Byung-chul. Jeong Eui-chan is preparing a bid in Haenam, Wando, Jindo in Jeollanam-do, the district of legislator Yoon Jae-gab. Special aide Kang Wi-won, who was the head of the Gyeonggi Agro-Fisheries Institute and the Gyeonggi AgroFood Institute, announced his bid in Seogu-gap, Gwangju, the district of Song Gab-seok, another lawmaker who does not support Lee.

Many of the newly appointed aides are people who have been with Lee since his days as Seongnam mayor or Gyeonggi governor, people outside the National Assembly who joined Lee’s campaign in the party primaries for the presidential election or the by-election in Gyeyang-eul in Incheon. Some are currently active in a gathering of pro-Lee figures outside the National Assembly, The Minju National Innovation Conference. This conference has been engaging in a campaign to recruit more party members demanding the abolition of the delegate system, the direct democracy of party members, and the replacement of 50% of incumbent lawmakers with fresh faces.

Some of the newly appointed aides were once at the center of controversy. Jeong Eui-chan stirred controversy when he was appointed as an executive of the Gyeonggi-do Suwon World Cup Stadium Foundation for his past. He was once sentenced to five years in prison for fatally torturing and collectively assaulting a fake university student after suspecting him to be a police spy. Kang Wi-won, who was the president of the Chonnam National University student council, gave up his bid in the 2018 local elections after news got out that he was identified as the perpetrator in a sexual harassment case in 2003.

The latest appointment of special aides by Lee Jae-myung raised suspicions that he was looking after his close acquaintances ahead of the primaries for next year’s parliamentary elections. When conducting surveys for the party primaries to determine candidates, candidates can generally state two major professional experiences. But in the party primaries for the 2020 parliamentary elections, the Democratic Party banned the listing of experiences that lasted less than six months. One party member argued that Lee Jae-myung was turning the Democratic Party into “Lee Jae-myung’s party” claiming that he appointed the special aides in August, six months before candidates start competing in the party primaries next February. Legislator Kim Yun-duck, chief of the special aides, said over the phone, “He (Lee Jae-myung) has been appointing special aides since last year, but didn’t have a chance to hand out the letters of appointment. So he handed them out this time as a formality,” and added that there was no special meaning.