Kim Min-seok dismisses criticism over 'internal rift' remarks: 'Worry disguised as shaking'

After criticism arose over Democratic Party of Korea leader Kim Min-seok's remarks likening internal rifts within the party to the 'warning signs' that preceded the impeachment attempt of the late President Roh Moo-hyun, Kim pushed back on the 15th, calling it "needless, meaningless, excessive worry — and shaking disguised as worry." Kim's remarks stemmed from a comment the previous day in which he, according to media reports, likened the situation of some in the progressive camp criticizing President Lee Jae-myung to the warning signs before the impeachment attempt of former President Roh.

Appearing on the party's official YouTube channel 'Democratic Party TV' program 'Minti 07' on this day, Kim countered: "People point out that telling someone not to think of an elephant only makes them think of it, but when someone points to the sky, you should look at the sky, not at the finger." On the same broadcast, he warned: "The lesson is that the forces who made a pointless impeachment attempt were destroyed," cautioning that any forces trying to shake the party from within would also meet that fate.

Kim emphasized that "there is zero chance of the government being shaken." The president has four years left in his term, he said, and the direction of state affairs has been set. On falling approval ratings, he said the party and government are "only going through a temporary adjustment due to the results of an election marred by confusion within the party and government," adding that "the demand to move toward livelihood, practicality, and expansion is overwhelmingly strong."

Targeting criticism from Cho Kuk, director of the Innovation Institute at the Rebuilding Korea Party, Kim pointed out: "He talks about the core while actually shaking up the support base." Responding to media reports that he had gone so far as to raise the issue of impeachment, Kim retorted: "Did I provide a pretext and shake the president? Aren't the ones shaking the president and disrupting state affairs someone else entirely?"

In a Facebook post on the 14th, Cho Kuk criticized Kim's remarks, saying they amounted to "spreading the notion of 'impeaching Lee Jae-myung' himself," asking, "Doesn't he know about 'don't think of the elephant'?" In the same post, Cho also diagnosed the decline in President Lee's approval rating as "the result of a strategy of building a 'structural majority' centered on the 'new Lee Jae-myung,'" asserting that "those who say the 'new Lee Jae-myung' alone will ensure successful governance and victory in the general election are precisely the treacherous ministers."

Kim stressed: "What I was saying is that this is a time when we must move forward through innovation and reflection, and unite our strength." He added: "Those who are sincerely concerned will not focus on that word but will get nervous, thinking, 'We must be shaking that much.' To anyone harboring thoughts of stirring up internal discord on this occasion, I simply wish them well."