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| ▲ Main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung attends a meeting with workers in the tech industry in Seongnam, south of Seoul, on March 14, 2023. (Yonhap) |
opposition leader-ex-aide death
Tension heightens in DP following death of leader's ex-aide
By Lee Minji
SEOUL, March 14 (Yonhap) -- A chasm in the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) between members supporting and disapproving of leader Lee Jae-myung appeared to be widening as some called for his resignation following the death of a former aide.
DP lawmakers unfavorable to Lee have been increasing pressure on him to step down amid concern that personal issues surrounding him, including a corruption investigation, could negatively affect the party's chances in next year's parliamentary elections.
The DP has seen its approval rating fall amid the investigation of corruption allegations involving Lee. Last month, the DP-controlled National Assembly also voted down the government's request for consent to Lee's potential arrest but by a thin margin that illustrated division within the party.
The party's image was also dealt a blow after a former chief of staff to Lee was found dead in an apparent suicide last week, the fifth person around Lee who has been found dead since corruption allegations against the opposition leader surfaced in 2021.
"With the parliamentary elections ahead, the Lee Jae-myung system should end in the first half at the latest," a DP lawmaker who declined to be named told Yonhap News Agency by phone.
Rep. Cho Eung-cheon, a vocal critic of Lee, pointed out how Lee should have first apologized for the former aide's death instead of blaming the prosecution.
"There are views that it is problematic to only blame the prosecution," Cho said in a radio interview with SBS. "Until now, former party leaders all put the party ahead of themselves when the party was in a crisis."
But key members of the DP continued to defend Lee, dismissing the calls for resignation as a temporary opinion and urging the party to fight against attempts to take him down.
"It is weakening. It does more harm than good in the current situation," Park Jie-won, an adviser to the DP and former chief of the national spy agency said in a YouTube interview with political journalist Kim Ou-joon. "It has moved on to views that (party members) should devote themselves to fight in unity."
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