Kim Min-seok, a former prime minister who has entered the race for the Democratic Party of Korea's leadership, pushed back Tuesday against criticism from within the party over his absence from the Dec. 3 emergency martial law repeal vote, saying the attacks reminded him of the People Power Party and the Daejangdong scandal.
Speaking on KBS Radio's "Jeongyeok Sisa" program Tuesday morning, Kim said he initially thought the criticism had come from the People Power Party. "I thought, who from the PPP is saying this? And then I thought, this feels like watching the Daejangdong days all over again," he said.
The criticism came from Supreme Council member Lee Sung-yoon, who is aligned with the pro-Jung Chung-rae faction of the party. In a Facebook post Monday, Lee wrote: "As all citizens know, candidate Kim did not participate in the National Assembly vote to lift Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration. Why did he not take part in that vote?" Lee added: "He is said to have taken cold medicine and gone to sleep — what exactly were the ingredients in that cold medicine?"
Lee went on to ask why Kim had not rushed to the National Assembly immediately, given that he had reportedly spoken by phone with a Democratic Party lawmaker just before martial law was declared.
Kim rebuffed the accusations, saying he had been inside the National Assembly at the time of the vote and had taken his seat in the main chamber immediately after. "I have already explained the full sequence of events on multiple occasions," he said. "This is not something that warrants that kind of question, yet the question was asked anyway."
On the claim that he had received a call about the martial law declaration and still failed to appear, Kim called it an outright falsehood. "That is false. I am genuinely concerned that someone would make a defamatory statement based on fabricated facts at this point in time," he said. "I think that kind of politics will make things very difficult for them."
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