Pro-Jung faction boycotts party leadership meeting amid Choi Min-hee controversy

Factional tensions within the Democratic Party of Korea are flaring again after supreme council member Choi Min-hee was reported to have suggested at a closed-door party meeting that President Lee Jae Myung had opposed the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk Yeol — remarks that came on the heels of Choi comparing journalists to a "pack of hyenas."

Supreme council members Lee Sung-yoon and Han Min-su, both aligned with the pro-Jung Chung-rae faction, held a press conference at the National Assembly on Friday to push back against party leader Kim Min-seok's decision on Thursday to order an ethics investigation into Choi. "The one who should be subject to an ethics probe right now is party leader Kim," they said. In a pointed show of protest, they scheduled the press conference to run at the same time as the regular supreme council meeting.

"He rushed to order an ethics investigation against a fellow council member without even asking about the circumstances beforehand," they said, adding that the move was raising suspicions of "a malicious attempt to shift the narrative and redirect public opinion."

They also called for a broader party overhaul, saying the Democratic Party was "stuck in a swamp of indecision — nothing gets done, nothing gets blocked, just paralysis." They took aim at the party leadership's handling of a range of issues, from an investigation into allegations of mass membership by the Shincheonji religious group to the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de and proposed real estate tax reforms.

On Thursday, the Democratic Party announced through a press notice that Kim "takes the recent series of controversies surrounding Choi's conduct seriously and has ordered the party's ethics and audit committee to immediately launch an investigation into the relevant matters." The party said the probe was intended "to objectively verify the facts and circumstances of the issues raised and to examine whether party rules, regulations and ethical standards have been violated."

The ethics investigation order came swiftly after it emerged that Choi had made remarks at a closed-door party member forum suggesting that President Lee had opposed the impeachment of former President Yoon. Cheong Wa Dae pushed back against Choi's comments, calling them "groundless" and expressing "strong regret."

In response, Han appeared on the YouTube program "Kim Eojun's Humility Is Hard News Factory" on Friday and said: "Choi apologized through her own social media, and yet within tens of minutes of Cheong Wa Dae's statement coming out, the party leader ordered the ethics committee to launch an investigation. That is something I have to call out."

Choi has maintained that the substance of the closed-door meeting was conveyed in a distorted form. Speaking to reporters before the press conference on Friday, Choi said, "I think I may have misspoken — saying opposition to the Han Duck-soo impeachment instead of the Yoon Suk Yeol impeachment. I was confused when I first said it." On a flash meeting scheduled for Friday evening with party members in her constituency of Namyangju Gap, Choi said she was "sorry to the members" and that the gathering was "to explain why I had no choice but to shut down the group chat."

The controversies surrounding Choi have mounted by the day. She had earlier drawn criticism for remarks in a private chat room in which she described photojournalists as "a pack of hyenas" who were "doing whatever it takes to get footage." After a wave of protests from journalists, she held a press conference to apologize, but the Korea Press Photographers Association plans to file a complaint against her on Monday.

Criticism from within the party has also been sharp. One first-term Democratic Party lawmaker, speaking with The Herald Business by phone, said, "Personally, I'm seething," adding, "I think those remarks are grounds for resigning from the Assembly."