DP lawmaker calls party secretary-general's criticism of PM 'a bit rough'

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Young-bae said Monday that he found Secretary-General Cho Seung-rae's critical remarks about Prime Minister Kim Min-seok "a bit rough" and "not particularly good."

Speaking on YTN Radio's "Jang Seong-cheol's News Myeongdang" Monday morning, Kim said the current party leadership "cannot be free from criticism" over the results of the recent National Assembly by-elections and local elections. "I think they bear considerable responsibility, so I would like them to be more unifying and humble," he said.

Cho had raised the issue at a press briefing at the National Assembly on Sunday, questioning what effect reports had on the elections — while voting was still under way — that Kim Min-seok was considering resigning as prime minister to seek the party leadership. "The people involved did not deny it, so it was taken as fact. We need to assess whether that was appropriate," Cho said. The remarks were widely interpreted as a veiled criticism of Prime Minister Kim, whose name has been floated as a potential candidate at the party convention set for August.

In response, Kim Young-bae said he hoped the party's leaders would "use language and act in a more unifying and reform-minded way going forward."

Asked about criticism that Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae tends to raise contentious intraparty issues whenever President Lee Jae Myung travels abroad, Kim said he found it "somewhat regrettable" and called for the party, Cheong Wa Dae and the government to work together more systematically to address such problems.

On the interpretation that President Lee favors Prime Minister Kim over Jung and would prefer Jung not run in the next party convention, Kim acknowledged he had "a sense" that the president may lean more toward Kim Min-seok. He added, however, that it was inconceivable the president would go so far as to tell Jung to "step down quickly and stay out of the convention."