Yoon Geon-young says party should heed Yoo Si-min's warning about Lee administration

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Yoon Geon-young, a close ally of former President Moon Jae-in, said the party should take seriously author Yoo Si-min's recent criticism of President Lee Jae Myung — that while supporters wanted an "extension," Lee has been pursuing a "demolition and rebuild."

Yoon made the remarks in an interview Sunday on CBS Radio's "Park Jae-hong's Hanpan Seungbu," saying Yoo is someone who "turned down the post of prime minister" and that "listening carefully to what a person with that kind of life story has to say is, first and foremost, the most important thing."

Yoo had been widely mentioned as a candidate for the inaugural prime minister post when the Lee government was formed.

Earlier, Yoo appeared on broadcaster Kim Eui-jun's YouTube channel and explained the source of tensions within the Democratic Party using what he called the "demolition-and-rebuild" theory. He said those who had supported and stood by President Lee wanted an "extension" — expanding the existing political base — but that Lee appeared to be pursuing a full "demolition and rebuild" instead. The remark was widely understood to mean Lee was trying to reorganize the ruling camp around a new "pro-Lee" base while sidelining supporters loyal to former presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in. Yoo also said Lee had shown "excessive confidence" in his push to broaden his appeal toward the center and conservative voters.

On Yoo's "demolition-and-rebuild" analogy, Yoon said the metaphor was "sharp and a bit rough — that's why it stung Cheong Wa Dae." He added, "People can focus on the analogy rather than the substance, but I hope they keep their ears open."

Asked what he thought Yoo's core message was, Yoon said, "Isn't it a warning about the current situation?" He described the recent local elections as a "preview of a warning" — a signal that voters might send a penalty or yellow card to the Democratic Party and the ruling forces. "I think Yoo went a step further and saw it as an outright warning," Yoon said. "His judgment seems to be: if things continue this way, it will be hard for the Lee Jae Myung government to succeed, and many problems will get tangled up."

On what specifically the warning was about, Yoon elaborated: "What Yoo was saying, I think, is that prosecutorial reform needs to be pushed through like lightning, and there's concern that the window for that is being missed — that if the pace is too slow, prosecutors could turn the tables, and the anxiety that there simply won't be enough time to get it done."

On the internal conflicts surfacing ahead of the Democratic Party's national convention, Yoon said the situation "could be unsettling for the government," explaining that the roughly one year and 10 months between the local elections and the 2028 general election is a period free of major votes — "the only time the government can truly get things done."

"During a period with less political turbulence, the government draws up its plans and designs," he said. "It won't be pleasant for the party to be showing signs of conflict during the very time when the government needs to focus on its work."