Jung Chung-rae: 'Worst self-serving politics is helping another party's candidate'

Jung Chung-rae, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said Sunday that "the worst form of self-serving politics is the old-guard practice of leaving a party during an election to run as an independent, or helping another party's candidate."

In a Facebook post that day, Jung said he had led a campaign support unit called "Deokeot" on behalf of the party even after being dropped from the candidate list through what he called an unjust cut. He added that he had always put the party before himself. "Who is the one doing self-serving politics?" he asked.

The remarks appeared to target Kim Min-seok, former prime minister, with whom Jung is competing for the party leadership at the Democratic Party convention on Aug. 17 and with whom he has been trading barbs over the "self-serving politics" charge.

During the 2002 presidential election, Kim called on Roh Moo-hyun, then the Millennium Democratic Party candidate, to step aside as his approval ratings fell, urging consolidation behind Chung Mong-joon of the People's Unity 21 party.

Jung's pointed reference to the Deokeot campaign unit stood in deliberate contrast to that history.

During the candidate selection process for the 20th general election, Jung drew attention over whether he would run as an independent after being cut from the party list. He ultimately chose to stay in the party and forgo a run, then took the helm of the Deokeot unit — a campaign group formed with others who had been dropped or excluded from the primary and nomination process — to stump for the party's official candidates.

In a separate Facebook post the same day, Jung shared a political cartoon depicting him on one side and former Prime Minister Kim and former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil on the other, apparently defending preferential voting. The cartoon was captioned "Is this a gang-up?" and featured a caricature of Jung.

"Getting beaten hurts a lot," he wrote. "I'll try to hold up."

In yet another post that day, Jung said he had visited his mother's birthplace in Wanju-gun, North Jeolla Province. "I seek my roots and reflect on my foundations," he wrote, adding that he was reaffirming the roots of Korean democracy and the Democratic Party. "I think of the continuity of Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, Moon Jae-in and President Lee Jae Myung."

"You cannot make flowers bloom by cutting the roots," he continued. "Just as history written in blood cannot be erased with words, the history of Democratic Party governments cannot be thrown into chaos through division."

"Denying the roots makes the flowers wither," he added, urging unity "for the success of the Lee Jae Myung government."

While the posts emphasized unity, they were also read as an indirect rebuke of former Prime Minister Kim, with Jung invoking the party's "roots" and "foundations" as a pointed frame of reference.