Jung Jeom-sik: "Kim Min-seok must take responsibility for Shincheongi suspicions and resign immediately"

Jung Jeom-sik, the floor leader of the People Power Party, demanded on the 4th that Democratic Party of Korea leader Kim Min-seok take responsibility for and immediately resign over the allegations that he apologized for the three-way secret alliance with Shincheongi, saying 'there was no evidence.' Why did Floor Leader Jung demand resignation rather than an apology?

In a Facebook post on the morning of the 4th, Floor Leader Jung stated, "If the 'Shincheongi secret alliance theory' was false, then he blatantly spread false information, which in itself means he should quit politics." He went on to point out that "deciding at the caucus to cover up the suspicions amounts to concealing a crime, which likewise warrants retirement from politics." Floor Leader Jung claimed, "Candidate Kim Min-seok won the party convention by spreading the Shincheongi secret alliance theory," adding, "The Democratic Party's August convention was a massive fraud." He also took aim at the party leader, saying, "He is nothing more than a 'new Kim Dae-eup,' just like Kim Dae-eup, who led the screening plot during the 2002 presidential election."

The previous day (the 3rd), at a closed-door caucus of the Democratic Party, party leader Kim apologized, saying that based on an internal investigation into the 'suspicions of mass Shincheongi membership and interference in the party convention' raised during the August 17 convention process, "there was no evidence of a three-way secret alliance."

Criticism of the tearful apology also continued. Floor Leader Jung said, "Party leader Kim told the caucus there was no evidence of a three-way secret alliance with Shincheongi and reportedly shed tears as he apologized to the members," adding, "However, this tear-jerking 'melodrama' is not something that can simply be brushed aside."

In a Facebook post on November 4, Floor Leader Jung referred to the joint prosecution-police investigation task force conducting searches and seizures of party membership rolls as part of its investigation into the suspicions of mass Shincheongi membership, arguing, "No matter how much law enforcement agencies bend like grass before those in power, shouldn't they at least maintain a minimal balance?" He stated, "We cannot trust the Democratic Party's internal investigation results, which claim the report was withdrawn at the caucus," and added, "Only law enforcement agencies can reveal the scale of Shincheongi's membership drive and what schemes they carried out." He went on to declare, "This case absolutely requires an investigation."