People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik called on President Lee Jae-myung to relinquish the chairmanship of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, saying Lee should do so first if his remarks about "inclusion and openness for all" were sincere.
Speaking at a PPP supreme council meeting at the National Assembly on Monday, Jeong cited a social media post Lee made during his state visit to Italy, saying it was "contradictory and hypocritical to break convention and tradition, monopolize both the Assembly speakership and the judiciary committee chairmanship, and then talk about inclusion and openness."
Jeong also questioned whether Lee's energy was truly directed at national unity. "Is President Lee's passion not aimed at purging the pro-Jung Chung-rae and pro-Moon Jae-in factions and seizing control of the party, rather than uniting the country as a whole?" he said. "I issue a clear warning that presidential interference in party affairs is illegal and unconstitutional."
Turning to the substance of Lee's social media post, Jeong asked whether the president himself had practiced the virtues — "dialogue and communication," "private versus public interest," and "cool-headed balance" — he was demanding of the ruling party. "From January through June this year, Lee's social media was filled with slogans demonizing multi-home owners, yet the policy outcome has been nothing but a surge in jeonse and monthly rent prices," he said.
Jeong said Lee was demanding of the ruling party things he had not practiced himself. "Wasn't it President Lee who personally led a boycott campaign against Starbucks, urged people to vote, and stoked division by likening the opposition to 'the worst of the worst' and 'those who ruin my life'?" he said. "He calls for inclusion and openness for all, not exclusion and monopoly — yet he has not practiced a single one of those words himself."
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