President Lee Jae-myung issues a warning to hard-line reformists in the Democratic Party
On the 15th, President Lee Jae-myung posted a message on X (formerly Twitter) titled "With Actions, Not Words," saying, "It is difficult to tolerate those who obstruct reform in the name of reform." He added, "Rather than criticizing me for doing things that lower my approval ratings, we should first ask whether something needs to be done," and pointed out that "the interests of the nation and all its people must come before the interests of myself and my group." He also emphasized that for public officials, power is not a mandate to 'gain popularity' but to do what is 'necessary for the nation and the people.'
The president's argument is that reform is inherently unpopular. "To live healthily, one must undergo surgery and take bitter medicine, however painful and unpleasant," he said, citing economic reform to restore growth, livelihood reform to ease polarization, disastrous real estate reform, fair tax reform, efficient fiscal reform, the consolidation and relocation of public institutions, prosecutorial and police reform, and defense reform for self-reliant national defense. "The reform tasks of our era are so vast and numerous that even running at full capacity 24/7 until the last day of my presidential term would not be enough to solve them all," he stressed, adding that "they must be proven through results achieved by execution, not through grand declarations or bold claims."
Although the remarks were not aimed at any specific individual, infighting within the party lies in the background. Discord continues inside and outside the Democratic Party after it became known that Choi Min-hee, the party's Supreme Council member, said at a non-public meeting with district chapter members last month that President Lee had opposed the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol during his time as party chairman. The latest post came amid this situation, and is interpreted as targeting the party's hard-line faction.
A similar message came the day before. On the 14th, the president shared a video interview with Rep. Chun Jun-ho, who served as his secretary general when he was Democratic Party chairman, saying, "Rep. Chun also became a target of the political prosecution simply for standing by my side, even receiving a summons." He added, "The hardest thing is the arrows flying in from behind." From 'arrows in the back' to 'obstruction of reform,' the president has posted messages targeting his critics within the party on public channels for two consecutive days.
