Kang Deuk-gu accuses Jung of forcing expulsion vote; pro-Jung camp calls claims 'lies'

Factional infighting within the Democratic Party of Korea has intensified ahead of the party's Aug. 17 leadership convention, forcing a suspension of open supreme council meetings even as the war of words continued outside the chamber.

Supreme council member Kang Deuk-gu, aligned with leadership candidate Kim Min-seok, leveled a direct attack at rival candidate Jung Chung-rae, accusing him of "repeating the same words to tell a false story" and saying "a party leader who peddles the president's name is unacceptable." Council members aligned with Jung fired back, asking, "No matter how much you want Jung to lose and Kim to win, isn't this going too far?"

At a press conference at the National Assembly's media center on Tuesday, Kang took aim at the process by which former North Jeolla Province Governor Kim Kwan-young was expelled from the supreme council over allegations of cash-envelope distribution during the June 3 local elections. "Three council members, including myself, said we should hear the person's explanation before deciding, but former party leader Jung Chung-rae led the charge to expel former Governor Kim in one stroke," Kang said.

He went on to say, "I said at that meeting that I was opposed — it will be in the stenographic record. Former leader Jung's claim that the vote was unanimous is a lie." Kang added that Jung "forced through the vote and pushed it forward, expelling Kim without any explanation procedure and skipping the entire process. The harshest possible disciplinary measure was decided on the spot. That is the true nature of former leader Jung."

Kang also challenged Jung over his announcement in January of a surprise merger with the Rebuilding Korea Party. "Former leader Jung said, 'At Cheong Wa Dae, the merger was the president's own conviction.' That is not true," he said. "Why does former leader Jung keep dragging the president into this? Stop peddling the president's name."

Kang went on to say that "the expulsion of former Governor Kim was not unanimous, and Jung tried to push through the merger by invoking the president's authority while skipping even the minimum procedural steps," adding that "the party leader at the time must be held accountable for that conduct in any form."

Pro-Jung council members — former supreme council member Moon Jeong-bok and sitting members Park Jee-won and Park Gyu-hwan — immediately rebuffed Kang's claims as "complete lies."

"During the meeting itself, and even when the chief spokesperson's briefing announced the 'unanimous expulsion' decision, you said nothing — so why are you suddenly now spreading the lie that you opposed former Governor Kim's expulsion and the lie that former leader Jung forced through the vote, using them to attack and criticize him?" they said.

They then said, "Isn't this an attempt to spread false rumors and fake news among North Jeolla Province party members in order to influence the party leader election? Moreover, a supreme council member who is obligated to remain neutral during an election is using a press conference to slander candidate Jung with lies and tell party members he must not become party leader — do you truly not know that all of this violates the party constitution and rules?"

They called on party leadership to "strictly sanction council member Kang's violations of the party constitution and rules and his election misconduct," and appealed to party members to "harshly judge those who are soiling the convention with collusion, intimidation, lies and fraud, so that attempts to gain political advantage through lies can never again find a foothold in our Democratic Party."