Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Ju-min said the party must act quickly to resolve the controversy over alleged mass enrollment of Shincheonji church members, warning that a prolonged dispute would clearly hurt the party.
"If this drags on, it will definitely be bad for the party," Park said Tuesday on SBS Radio's "Kim Tae-hyun's Politics Show." "We need people within the party who can hold a dialogue to meet with both sides and work toward a political resolution."
Park added that "the parts established by evidence need to be explained more fully to party members."
The Democratic Party has been allowing individual lawmakers and regional committee chairs to review the Shincheonji investigation findings on a confidential basis since party leader Kim Min-seok issued a formal apology. Despite that measure, internal factional tensions have continued to flare.
Park said some lawmakers were still acting as though something improper had occurred even after Kim apologized and denied any wrongdoing. "The leader apologized and said there was nothing to it, yet some lawmakers keep talking as if there were," Park said. "Because they keep saying that, it looks like the matter has not been settled."
Park said it would help if the party could clearly explain why certain allegations were found to be without basis. "Either way, this should not be about who wins — I think it needs to be resolved in a way that the Democratic Party wins," Park said.
In addition, Park said the party had reached a critical juncture in how it handles the issue. "We also need people within the party who can engage in dialogue to meet with both sides and work toward a political resolution," Park said.
Meanwhile, on the party's push for a parliamentary investigation into Chief Justice Jo Hee-dae, Park said his own position had been to proceed directly to impeachment without a parliamentary investigation. "The leadership said it would pursue a parliamentary investigation first, but now even that discussion seems to have quieted down," Park said. "I honestly do not know what the leadership is thinking right now."
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