Democratic Party leadership race intensifies with mutual ethics complaints

The race for the leadership of South Korea's Democratic Party is heating up, with frontrunners Chung Sye-kyun and Kim Min-seok engaging in increasingly bitter exchanges. As the party's national convention approaches, the narrow margin between the two candidates, evidenced by a mere 0.99% point difference in recent regional polls, has intensified their conflict.

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If I become party leader, the first thing I will do is order an ethics investigation into candidate Kim, who endangered the party by raising 'Shincheonji (group entry) suspicions.' If the ethics investigation finds no basis for the suspicion, I will immediately file a complaint with the ethics committee and take disciplinary action against candidate Kim.

Chung has accused Kim of endangering the party by raising "Shincheonji (group entry) suspicions" and vowed to order an ethics investigation if elected. He also repeatedly attacked Kim's past defection from the party in 2002, calling it a "betrayal of the party and its members." Chung further filed a complaint against Kim's camp for allegedly using party funds to display banners promoting Kim's slogan.

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If the Myung-Chung rivalry continues, President Lee Jae-myung will be shaken, and the direction of state affairs will be shaken.

Kim, in turn, has targeted Chung's faction with "anti-Lee Jae-myung" rhetoric, warning that the ongoing "Myung-Chung" (referring to Lee Jae-myung and Chung Sye-kyun) rivalry could destabilize President Lee's administration and national policy. He urged party members to elect a leader who can firmly support the president and secure victory in the next general election. Kim also threatened to file ethics complaints against those making "false accusations and incitement" and reported an alleged violation of party rules regarding election guidelines distributed by Chung's supporters.

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We must elect a party leader who will firmly support the president's state affairs and a reliable party leader who can win the next general election.

The infighting has spilled over to supporters, with online communities engaging in heated exchanges and even petitions for disciplinary action against candidates. This escalating factional conflict is seen as a direct consequence of the razor-thin margin in the polls, leading some within the party to express concern about the creation of deep-seated divisions. The low voter turnout in recent regional primaries has also been attributed to party members' fatigue with the overheated convention, suggesting a disillusionment with the election process itself.

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This is a war. Please judge Team Chung Sye-kyun and the 'Myung-pal-i' (those who use Lee Jae-myung for their own gain).