Democratic Party launches all-out offensive against Rep. Kim Tae-gyu over 'insurrection' remarks

The Democratic Party of Korea has launched a full-scale offensive against People Power Party lawmaker Kim Tae-gyu, who said that neither the Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration nor Chun Doo-hwan's military coup constituted insurrection.

Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok appeared Friday on the party's YouTube program "Minti 07," where he signaled the possibility of reforming how the National Assembly's ethics committee operates in response to Kim Tae-gyu's remarks.

"The current ethics committee adjudication system is structured with equal representation from the ruling and opposition parties, which means it effectively cannot function — it cannot even get off the ground — no matter how egregious the conduct or how outraged the public is," Kim Min-seok said. "The National Assembly is becoming a lawless place with no law and no ethics."

He added that the party would "seek some solutions within the floor caucus" on the matter, and said he had heard Thursday that caucus members were "giving very serious thought to the equal-representation rule" — questioning whether it was acceptable to simply criticize politically and move on when conduct crosses the boundaries of the constitution, the law and public sentiment.

Floor Leader Han Byung-do also weighed in at Friday's supreme council meeting, saying the Democratic Party had on Thursday adopted and submitted, as official party policy, both a disciplinary motion against Kim Tae-gyu and a resolution calling for his expulsion. "We cannot keep someone who defends dictatorship and denies the constitution in a seat that represents the people," Han said.

Han also turned his fire on the People Power Party, demanding to know whether "defending insurrection and denying the May 18 pro-democracy uprising" was the party's official position. He vowed that the Assembly's steering committee would pass the resolution calling for Kim Tae-gyu's expulsion on Friday.

Chief Spokesperson Park Seong-jun, speaking to reporters immediately after the supreme council meeting, said the party was "reviewing a criminal complaint against Rep. Kim at the party level." He added: "Watching how Rep. Kim conducts himself in the Assembly, one wonders whether he is even a lawmaker given the outrageous statements he keeps making — and the Democratic Party's position is that this latest remark is unforgivable."

For his part, Kim Tae-gyu said during a free-speech session on the Assembly floor Thursday that his remarks "came from a desire to protect the honor of first lady Yuk Young-soo." He also criticized the film "The Assassin," saying it "brazenly plays in cinemas while disguising a crime committed by North Korea as a conspiracy by President Park Chung-hee — a morally depraved film."

He went on to say that "the left-wing camp shields this under the banner of creative freedom and is driving a wedge through public sentiment." Kim then turned his attack on the Democratic Party: "The Democratic Party picks and chooses only the court rulings that favor its side. It has no standing to cite court rulings. It is the Democratic Party and President Lee Jae Myung who have been denying court rulings and history."