Senseless hard-liners in the Democratic Party

The hard-liners in the Democratic Party (DP) have demanded the majority party submit a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol. They think it will help form a united front against the president and win the parliamentary election on April 10. In a book publishing event hosted by Rep. Min Hyung-bae, a hardcore DP lawmaker, in Gwangju on Sunday, Rep. Kim Yong-min, another hard-liner, said, “If our party submits the motion, the anti-Yoon front will take a concrete form.”

The idea is totally senseless. The president can be impeached only when they violate the Constitution or the law while in service. The requirements for the impeachment are tough, too. It demands a submission of the motion by more than half of the 300 members and approval by more than two-thirds of the 300. The proposal is nothing but a political strategy to get support from fervent DP supporters. We wonder if the two lawmakers already forgot all the chaos — and backlash — from the impeachment of former presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye.

Reps. Min and Kim are both members of the hard-line group of first-term lawmakers. The two spearheaded the enactment of a bill aimed at depriving the prosecution of its right to investigate and handing it over to the police. They contributed to their party’s defeat in the last presidential election. Rep. Kim went so far as to recommend that President Yoon step down when he visited the National Assembly in October to deliver a speech over next year’s budget. Rep. Min even voluntarily left the DP to help it pass the controversial bill on weakening the prosecution. After stealthily returning to the party, he spews swear words at Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon over his determination to bring suspicious DP lawmakers to justice.

Some DP lawmakers seem to be convinced that the party can impeach the president if they get more than 200 seats in the upcoming election. Rep. Min relayed what former justice minister Cho Kuk told him in a phone conversation — a “political coalition to end the prosecution-led dictatorship.” Cho claims that if the president’s intervention in party affairs is affirmed, it can serve as the ground for his impeachment. Would the moderate voters, who hold the key to victory in the next election, agree to the ridiculous argument by the former justice minister?

If the DP ignores such nonsense, it will not win the next election. The group of hard-liners in the DP includes Rep. Kim Nam-kook, the cryptocurrency trader during standing committee meetings, and former Rep. Choi Kang-wook, who lost his seat after convicted of issuing a fake certificate to the former justice minister’s son to get him admitted into a top university. The primary challenge for the majority party comes from its hard-liners, not the governing party.