Park Ji-won tells Yu Si-min: 'You'll be in your 70s soon — stop undermining President Lee'

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Ji-won pushed back Thursday against author Yu Si-min's prediction that President Lee Jae Myung's governance would "end in failure," asking who Yu had in mind as an alternative and why he was destabilizing a president barely a year into office.

In a Facebook post Thursday, Park said Yu had backed conservative candidate Jo Soon during the 1997 presidential election — his own mentor — while insisting that then-candidate Kim Dae-jung was doomed to lose, only for voters to elect Kim. "Yu spent all five years of the DJ government harassing and undermining him," Park wrote.

Park added that in the second year of Kim Dae-jung's presidency, Yu had called for his resignation and eventually floated claims about his mental health. "Despite Yu's destructive interference, DJ went on to be recorded as the most historically and popularly successful president," he wrote.

Park then argued that President Lee was also on a path to inevitable success despite what he called Yu's groundless attacks. "In his first year in office, he restored democracy, and the three major reforms to clear out the insurrection are proceeding successfully," Park claimed.

Park also rebuffed Yu's characterization of the president's approach to prosecutorial reform as "Machiavellian," saying Lee had repeatedly and publicly declared his commitment to separating the prosecution's investigative and indictment functions, and had asked the National Assembly to deliberate carefully on the recent question of supplementary investigative powers.

"If progressive forces fail, the insurrection forces will return," Park said. "Surely Yu does not want that."

Park also took a pointed jab at Yu's age, recalling that Yu had once said the brain begins to deteriorate after 60. "Yu himself will be entering his 70s before long," he wrote. "Tormenting DJ for five years was enough. Help President Lee along the path to inevitable success — that is the only way to keep the insurrection forces from coming back. Please, lend your support."

Yu had appeared Wednesday on the YouTube channel "Maebulshow," where he said he respected the direction President Lee had chosen but called it "a very dangerous choice," predicting it would end in failure. He criticized the administration's approach to broadening its political base and its handling of prosecutorial reform.

"President Lee is making a very wrong judgment and acting in a way that is harmful both to himself and to the country," Yu said. "The public must accept this as fact and respond accordingly. Ultimately, there is no way forward unless the people step up and set things right."

On the question of prosecutorial reform, Yu criticized Lee for never once offering a real explanation for why the reform had stalled for so long.

"The fact that reform has not been achieved in over a year is because the president does not want a complete separation of investigation and indictment," Yu said. "I believe it was the president who blocked the government from even putting forward a proposal."

On the idea of preserving some supplementary investigative powers, Yu said the president owed the public an explanation, and accused him of handling the matter in a "Machiavellian" fashion — letting subordinates absorb the criticism for unpopular moves while claiming credit for popular ones.