Democratic Party lawmakers pile on Yu Si-min after his criticism of President Lee

The Democratic Party of Korea has been thrown into disarray after author Yu Si-min — a leading intellectual and influential voice of the liberal-progressive camp — publicly criticized President Lee Jae Myung.

Party lawmakers fired back at Yu with words like "nitpicking," "betrayal" and "cunning." One went so far as to call him a "half-baked intellectual."

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ji-won wrote on Facebook on Tuesday that Yu had "disparaged" President Lee by saying he had "picked" the party leader, adding that "even a look at the vote margin and the composition of the supreme council shows this is nitpicking — and ultimately a statement that disrespects the public and party members."

Park invoked former President Kim Dae-jung, saying Yu had "rattled DJ with all manner of loose talk from his election campaign through the five years of his presidency, yet DJ turned out to be a successful president — the opposite of what Yu claimed." He added that President Lee, now just over a year into his term, needed "constructive criticism as medicine, not curses and slurs invoking Yoon Suk Yeol, monarchy and aristocracy."

Park went further, saying: "If you truly intend to destabilize this president, defy the mandate of the candlelight revolution and help the insurrection forces take power, then come out and say so — and go that way."

Lawmaker Park Hee-seung was even more cutting.

Opening with the provocative question "How far does an intellectual's betrayal go?", Park said: "If the commentary of a retired politician is shaking the party more than anything an active politician does, that is not commentary — it is politics. If an intellectual has turned toward destabilizing his own camp, there is no reason not to call that betrayal."

He urged Yu to "look back on the path he has walked," saying that someone who had "repeatedly formed and abandoned parties whenever he disagreed" had no standing to speak of member sovereignty without first accepting the outcome of the party convention as it was.

Park added in a notably heated tone: "Stop pretending to be a half-baked intellectual. If you want to do politics, come back to real politics and take responsibility for it."

Park, who represents the North Jeolla Province constituencies of Namwon, Jangsu, Imsil and Sunchang, pushed back on Yu's suggestion that Honam's support had been driven by the semiconductor cluster project. "North Jeolla Province is excluded from the greater Seoul area, overshadowed by Yeongnam, and marginalized even within Honam itself," he said. "The explanation that North Jeolla cast its votes because of semiconductor investment is simply wrong."

Ahn Ho-young, who represents the Wanju, Jinan and Muju constituencies in North Jeolla Province, said the strong Honam support for party leader Kim Min-seok at the party convention "stemmed from Honam's deep democratic civic consciousness — the same spirit that has defended this country in every crisis, from the Donghak Peasant Revolution to the May 18 pro-democracy uprising." He said Yu's remarks "belittled Honam's commitment to democracy."

Ahn then called on Yu to "exercise restraint in using clever words to taint the convention results and distort the choices of the public and party members," adding: "Analysis and disparagement are not the same thing."

Lawmaker Kim Jun-hyeok also criticized Yu, saying he had "heaped a devastating insult on the people of Honam — who have always made devoted and decisive contributions to democratization and reform in this country — by suggesting they voted for personal gain." Kim called it "sophistry that cannot be agreed with or excused."

Kim went further, saying that "as many political commentators have noted, Yu has consistently revealed the limits of an extremely biased political outlook, trapped within the framework of the Yeongnam democracy movement running from Roh Moo-hyun to Moon Jae-in." He said he could not help but ask "whether the consistent essence of the politician Yu Si-min has all along been anti-Honam sentiment."

Kim characterized Yu's remarks as behavior that "completely demolished the minimum line that politicians and intellectuals must observe," and warned that "if he does not withdraw his irresponsible vitriol, which obstructs the party's development and reform for people's livelihoods, even the political contributions and intellectual reputation he has built over the years will be shamefully tarnished in an instant."

The controversy began after Yu appeared on a YouTube channel and sharply criticized President Lee, saying the president had displayed the arrogance of a power-holder over the past year and that attempting to install a particular ruling party leader was contrary to the spirit of a republic — a path toward monarchy or aristocracy.