DP chief begins 'indefinite' hunger strike to protest 'incompetent, violent' Yoon administration

Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung began what he said would be an indefinite hunger strike on Thursday to mobilize “nationwide resistance against the incompetent and violent government” of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung sits under a white canopy in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Thursday, the first day of his indefinite hunger strike against the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. The banner above him vows to “rebuild” Korea's “crumbling democracy.” [YONHAP]

Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung began what he said would be an indefinite hunger strike on Thursday to mobilize “nationwide resistance against the incompetent and violent government” of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

He announced the beginning of his fast at a press conference to mark his first year as the chairman of the largest party in the legislature.

“The Yoon Suk Yeol administration has destroyed the constitutional order and democracy and declared a war on the people,” Lee said during the press conference.

Sitting on a mat under a large canopy in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, Lee was accompanied on the first day of his hunger strike by other DP leaders and a banner that vowed to “rebuild” Korea’s “crumbling democracy.”

During the press conference, Lee argued that the Yoon administration had abandoned its duty to protect Koreans by disregarding domestic opposition to Japan’s release of radioactive water from the ruined Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean and stoking social discord by characterizing independence activist Hong Beom-do as a communist.

The DP leader also reiterated accusations that plans for a motorway to connect Seoul to Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi, were rerouted to pass through an area with land owned by the family of first lady Kim Keon Hee.

He claimed the project was scrapped after the allegations came to light, which the presidential office has denied.

Lee further accused Yoon of undermining press freedom by appointing Lee Dong-kwan as chief of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC). The new commissioner has previously been accused of putting pressure on media companies to cast the Yoon administration in a positive light during his time as the presidential secretary of press affairs.

The DP leader’s conditions for ending his hunger strike include an official apology by Yoon for undermining people’s livelihoods and democracy, government opposition to Japan’s release of radioactive water into the ocean and a complete Cabinet reshuffle.

While Lee’s hunger strike represents an attempt to pressure the Yoon administration to change course, it also comes amid a string of criminal allegations against himself that even DP officials have acknowledged as undermining the party’s standing.

Lee has been summoned for questioning on Sept. 4 by the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office over suspicions that he was aware of an underwear company’s illegal payments to North Korea and bribes to Lee Hwa-young, who served as deputy governor of Gyeonggi during the DP leader’s 2018-2021 gubernatorial tenure.

Both Lee Hwa-young and Kim Seong-tae, the former chairman of the Ssangbangwool (SBW) Group, have recently admitted to investigators that Lee Jae-myung was informed of SBW’s payments to North Korean agents to secure a potential visit to Pyongyang to bolster his inter-Korean policy credentials, as well as to guarantee the company’s future involvement in inter-Korean projects led by the Gyeonggi provincial government.

Lee has twice rejected prosecutors’ summons to appear for questioning over the matter, escalating the chances that a court evaluating a future arrest warrant request against him could decide that he is at risk of destroying evidence.

Speaking to reporters at the National Assembly on Thursday, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon suggested that Lee had embarked on a hunger strike to “fight corruption probes against himself” and called it an act “lacking the logic necessary for popular sympathy.”

Han, who previously filed a now-rejected arrest motion against the DP leader in February, referred to the DP leader’s previous comments that “one shouldn’t stage a hunger strike just because one is dissatisfied with something” to criticize Lee’s decision to stage a sit-in.

The justice minister said that the probe into Lee’s affairs, which include several development corruption scandals stemming from his time as Seongnam’s mayor, would proceed regardless of his protest.

“Criminal investigations into robbery and fraud do not disappear because the suspect is staging a hunger strike,” Han said, adding that Lee could not continue to refuse summons for questioning — which the DP leader has likened to prosecutorial “stalking” — because of his duties as party leader.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]