A strange innovator of a party in crisis

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A strange innovator of a party in crisis

Lee Rae-kyung who has been recruited as chairman of the innovation committee of the Democratic Party (DP) tendered his resignation on Monday. We welcome his decision. First of all, his views on sensitive issues are too detached from common sense. On Facebook, Lee, head of a radical group, claimed that the Cheonan sinking was fabricated by “the hegemonic forces in the United States” to damage inter-Korean relations. He went on to insist that Covid-19 originated in the United States.

Over the U.S. intelligence authorities’ spying on the presidential office in Yongsan, Lee raised a conspiracy theory that they must have deeply intervened in Korea’s presidential election last year. We are dumbfounded that such a lopsided person could be scouted as head of the innovation committee.

Given his image as a hardliner heavily leaning toward a certain ideology, Lee did not fit the role as innovator of the party. A former democracy activist, he demanded President Yoon Suk Yeol resign for whatever reason. Criticizing the recent dispatch of an inspection team to the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, he held the president accountable for “his historical crime as the head of state.” The DP’s crisis had been triggered by its loss of balance as if it were under mass hypnotism.

The party has long suffered from over-the-top fandom politics since the election of Lee Jae-myung as the party leader in 2021. We seriously wonder what innovation the party really wanted from the ideologically twisted person.

Another problem is the innovation leader’s persistent support for the party leader. After Lee Jae-myung was found not guilty in the second trial over a case involving his forceful sending of his brother to a psychiatric hospital when he was the Gyeonggi governor, he proposed to set up a national committee to save the governor.

DP lawmakers not loyal to the party leader demanded he entrust the innovation committee with all his powers, but he ended up appointing his core loyalist as head of the innovation committee which could affect the party’s amendment of party Constitution or the rules on nominating candidates in next year’s parliamentary election.

The DP has crushing defeats in three major elections, including the presidential election. Its morality collapsed due to a plethora of judicial risks involving the party leader himself, the disgraceful handing of cash envelopes to party members before a national convention two years ago, and Rep. Kim Nam-kuk’s suspicious investments in cryptocurrencies. Such a party should have recruited a respectful person as the leader of innovation if it really wanted to reform itself.

If the DP really wants to be born again, the party leader had better find an upright person who can fix all the problems in his party.
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