Unprecedented Moral Crisis Within the Democratic Party of Korea: Causes and Solutions

“Speech and action that blatantly destroys the values ​​that the Democratic Party should pursue are openly taking place within the party. I feel that the appearance of our party’s politicians neglecting that and only calculating political gains and losses is actually the most tragic and crisis.” A first-time member of the Democratic Party of Korea met recently and said this. This diagnosis is not limited to the individual opinion of one member of the legislature. Since last April, ‘suspicion of money envelopes at the convention’ and ‘suspicion of congressman Kim Nam-guk’s virtual asset (coin) speculation’ have erupted one after another, and the party has not been able to resolve the situation early. As he steps down in time, voices warning of an ‘unprecedented crisis’ emerge from inside and outside the Democratic Party. From the 23rd of last month to the 7th of this month, as a result of interviewing about 30 members of the National Assembly, party officials, aides, outside personnel, and experts, inside and outside the party, “Democratic Party politics has collapsed” and “the party’s immune system is not working.” , Self-condemnation followed, saying, “We have reached a critical point where morality hits the bottom.” “Even during the days of former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, there were moral crises, but there were absolute standards as to what was right at the time. But now, with arguments that shake such standards within the party, the camp itself is undermining the very foundation of existence” (first-time lawmaker). Thoughts on the cause and solution of the crisis were somewhat mixed depending on the situation and the position in which they were standing, but there was no disagreement that the Democratic Party was facing an unprecedented moral crisis.

Where is the source of the crisis? One first-term lawmaker said, “As we won the 19th presidential election (2017) and the following general and local elections, we fell into the illusion that the people think us all right. At some point, the standards for covering the right and wrong and judging morality disappeared altogether.” He said, “(Afterwards, in the 20th presidential and local elections) I did not take the defeat seriously even though I lost one after another. So, instead of bitter reflection, I shouted ‘I lost but fought well’.” It is evaluated that the self-defensive slogan “I lost but fought well” from the Democratic Party immediately after last year’s presidential election was a warning sound and symptom of a crisis. Accumulated misunderstandings and arrogance were exposed as they were in the process of handling the ‘Act on Reducing Prosecutors’ Investigative Rights’ (Amendment to the Prosecutor’s Office Act and Criminal Procedure Act), which was promoted immediately after the presidential election. Some party officials cited Rep. Min Hyung-bae’s “tricky withdrawal” as the worst case. The Agenda Setting Committee installed in the Standing Committee of the National Assembly is a device created by the ruling and opposition parties to compromise, but when the discussion did not go according to the Democratic Party’s will, they put Rep. Min as an ‘independent’ in the Agenda Setting Committee of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and pushed the bill by force. . A young out-of-won politician pointed out, “It is a vested interest attitude that if there is a cause, the rest doesn’t matter.” Progressive and reform camps have traditionally valued procedures and processes, but this means that they showed a hegemonic attitude by justifying the means for the sake of the result.

As CEO Lee Jae-myung ran for Incheon Gyeyang-eul in the June 2 by-election last year, it was evaluated that the leadership of the Democratic Party, which had overcome the crisis with the leader’s ‘sacrifice’ and ‘dedication’, had faded. It is difficult to find a precedent for a ‘leader’ to run in another election immediately after the election, and this is because he chose Gyeyang, Incheon, where the Democratic Party’s support is strong, avoiding Bundang-gap, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, where a new victory is expected. “Roh Moo-hyun left Jongno, a local constituency, and went to Busan to complete the politics of the Democratic Party, but Lee Jae-myung lost the presidential election and ran for Gyeyang-eul to complete his own politics.” It is the cynicism of one multi-seon member. It’s not just former President Roh. When former Chairman Chung Dong-young, who was defeated in the presidential election, tried to run for re-election in Deokjin, Jeonju, North Jeolla Province in 2009, the Democratic Party did not give him a nomination. received. However, after losing the presidential election and the local elections in which he served as the general election chairman, Lee ran for the party convention again in August and seized the party power. A first-time member of the Democratic Party said, “I thought that he was looking at the community as a place to realize his desires, seeing him go to another position rather than taking responsibility for his defeat. It was very shocking,” he said.

Most of those who responded to the interview agreed that the Yoon Seok-yeol regime’s prosecution investigation surrounding CEO Lee had a strong character of oppression of the opposition party. However, he showed disappointment in the process of amending Article 80 of the party constitution, which stipulates ‘suspension of duty in case of indictment’, to make ‘exceptions’ and the process of being applied, and the Democratic Party’s ‘justification for bulletproof’ despite promising to give up the privilege of not being arrested. . If the ‘Cho Kuk Incident’ caused the division of the Democratic Party’s supporters and raised the prelude to a moral crisis, there were not a few who evaluated that the actions of Lee and his aides as the party’s political leaders after the presidential election aggravated the crisis. Kim Yun-cheol, a professor at Humanitas College at Kyung Hee University, said, “After losing the presidential election, Lee ran to become the party representative and revised the party constitution and rules. Looking at this process, I feel that the Democratic Party has completely lost order and norms.” I ended up going to the politics of power, the politics of winning and losing,” he said. Due to this perception, party officials saw that the prevalence of “shameless” language denying political morality within the party was a bigger problem than how many lawmakers would be prosecuted immediately by the prosecution’s dust-cleaning investigation. One multi-seon member of the Democratic Party remembered the assembly held on the 3rd of last month as such a shameless scene. At a ceremony held right after the withdrawal of lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Seong-man, who were involved in the money envelope scandal, amidst comments criticizing the party leadership’s lukewarm response, a first-time lawmaker from a constituency is said to have made a statement. “’Is there anyone who hasn’t received an envelope? Is that a mortal sin?’ As a politician, I couldn’t bear to say it even in a closed meeting, so I was so embarrassed that I was speechless.” The on-site remarks of the member that another member remembers are a little different. “I remember you saying, ‘Can you become a political leader without buying food for your supporters?’ I laughed because I wondered if I could become a great leader only if I paid for my supporters’ meals.” Even though the ‘detail’ of the remarks is different, it is said that ‘only the innocent among you should throw stones’. A number of party officials unanimously said that they were “unspeakably ashamed” in front of the suspicion of money envelopes and the speculation of virtual assets by Rep. Kim Nam-guk. Explicit arguments such as ‘Can’t members of the National Assembly also do financial technology’, ‘Can’t the Democratic Party make money’, or ‘Can politics work without money’ are words and actions that have forgotten the minimum ethics of responsibility as public officials. Rep. Han re-elected, “The reason why the law stipulates various restrictions related to members of the National Assembly means to be moderate for a higher moral level,” he said. . He said, “Due to this incident, the Democratic Party was stigmatized as an extreme pursuit of self-interest. It is painful and shocking,” he added. Another member of Congress Daseon said, “Our party members have become shameless to the extent that morality is cumbersome.”

There is no disagreement inside and outside the party that the current crisis is an extraordinary crisis, but there is no sign of a spontaneous rectification movement in the huge opposition party with 167 seats. “When the party dies, the majority should rise up in fits and starts demanding renewal, just as Kim Geun-tae and Roh Moo-hyun did, but now there is none of that. This is why any raising of an issue ends up as a local battle of an uncomfortable factional struggle.” (Aide Han) The problem is the silence of lawmakers. Rep. Han Da-seon expressed his bitter feelings, saying, “The first-time lawmakers are playing the part of the faction’s pawns instead of shouting for the party’s innovation with spirit, and the middle-ranking lawmakers are not playing the role that suits them.” Party officials in particular agreed that “the party needs to reestablish ethical standards that are different from those of the era of democratization.” “The generation of the 86 activists fought the giants, looked at the world in a binary way, and put forward the logic of ‘fighting the giants, so our small mistakes are okay’. Even people in their 30s and 40s in the party are influenced by such 86 generations, and it is difficult to change the structure by doing politics.” Even during the coin controversy of Rep. Kim Nam-guk, strong supporters defended Rep. Kim and argued that young politicians who criticized Rep. Kim should be disciplined, revealing a different perception from the public. Shin Jin-wook, professor of sociology at Chung-Ang University, described the current situation of the Democratic Party as “a qualitatively different crisis from before.” If the money envelope suspicion is a ’86 generation problem’ such as former CEO Song Young-gil, the coin speculation controversy reveals the duality of politicians in their 40s, the Democratic Party’s ‘future generation’, and the problem of the strong supporters surrounding them. He said, “It is not an individual problem, but a problem of the party as a whole, a problem of all generations, not just a specific generation of the 86th generation, and a problem that includes not only elected politicians but also supporters. said. CEO Lee Jae-myung is looking for a new innovation chairman. Pro-Myeong circles are expecting that the new chairman of the innovation committee will make bold reforms. A member of the pro-Myeong faction said, “The fall of the innovation chairman will be a blessing in disguise,” and said, “After going through these twists and turns, can’t we innovate more boldly?” At the Democratic Party’s general assembly to be held on the 12th, it is expected that discussions will continue regarding the direction of party innovation. Reporter Uhm Ji-won umkija@hani.co.kr Reporter Yoon-young Cho jyy@hani.co.kr Reporter Jae-woo Lim abbado@hani.co.kr Reporter Woo-yeon Lee azar@hani.co.kr