Lee Jae-myung must stop privatizing the DP

A group of Democratic Party (DP) lawmakers not loyal to their leader Lee Jae-myung has left the majority party. In a joint farewell address on Wednesday, the three DP legislators — Reps. Lee Won-wook, Kim Jong-min and Cho Eung-cheon — stressed that they decided to leave the party because its leader refused to accept their persistent demand for a colossal reinvention of the liberal party after clearing its image as a political party only bent on defending the party head from his own judicial risks and supporting his unique fandom-based politics.

Their move will be joined by former DP leader Lee Nak-yon, who will announce his plan today to create a new party ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections to take a different path. Following five-term lawmaker Lee Sang-min’s departure from the DP in December, anti-Lee members of the liberal party are leaving the party one after another at the start of the new year.

The DP only deepened public concerns over its head’s methodical attempt to privatize the majority party. After Hyun Geun-taek, a deputy spokesperson of the DP and a pro-Lee member, stirred controversy with his remarks bordering on sexual harassment, a text message between the party leader and Rep. Jung Sung-ho, Lee’s close aide, was captured by a camera. In the messages, after Jung recommends that his boss punish the spokesman by suspending his party membership, Lee says, “Isn’t that too harsh?” Chung replies, “It’s a warning that is strong enough.”

The DP said it was just a part of gathering opinions about the case in the party. But the two politicians discussing the level of punishment in detail could be proof of their attempt to neutralize the official apparatus of the party. DP members disloyal to Lee said such a conversation constitutes perfect evidence of Lee’s privatization of the party.

After the exchange of text messages, the DP announced a plan to inspect the spokesperson on the party level. Strangely, the announcement coincided with the reversal of another anti-Lee lawmaker’s decision to leave the party. The lawmaker was supposed to battle against the spokesperson to get the nomination in the same constituency in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, ahead of the April 10 parliamentary elections.

On stepping out of Seoul National University Hospital on Wednesday after undergoing a surgery for his neck injury from a terrorist attack eight days ago, the DP leader, former Seongnam mayor, said he also will “reflect on the recent developments,” adding, “Such extreme politics of hatred to the extent of trying to kill opponents must end.” But if Lee fails to replace his own outmoded politics after gladly betting on the public sentiment leaning more toward punishing the government than criticizing the DP for Lee’s ethical lapses, he and his party will be punished by voters in three months.