Yoo Si-min Criticizes, "President Lee on Path to Failure, Democratic Party Will Be in Disarray"... Democratic Party Responds, "Language of a Curse"

Yoo Si-min: "Actions harmful to both himself and the country"

Raises Responsibility over "Myeong-pick" Controversy and Delays in Prosecutorial Reform

Park Jie-won: "Excess can be as bad as too little", Jang Cheolmin: "Crossing the line"

Writer Yu Si-min stated that President Lee Jae-myung is "heading down a path of inevitable failure," prompting backlash from the Democratic Party, with some members calling his remarks a "curse."

On the 15th, writer Yu Si-min strongly criticized President Lee Jae-myung. Maebulsyo YouTube

On the July 15 broadcast of the YouTube channel 'Maebulsyo,' Yu said, "While I respect the path President Lee has chosen, it is an extremely dangerous choice," adding, "President Lee is making very poor judgments and acting in a way that is harmful both to himself and to the country." Yu went on to strongly criticize, "Regardless of whether it is right or wrong, he is going down a path of inevitable failure."

On June 26, during a YouTube show called 'Kim Eo-jun's Humility Is Difficult: News Factory,' Yu commented, "While it is certainly a goal to aspire to achieve integration, what President Lee's supporters wanted was an extension. When appointing those strange figures at the beginning, they accepted it with that in mind," continuing, "However, it seems the president wanted a reconstruction instead."

He repeated the same argument during this broadcast, saying, "We expected an extension, but the president seems to be thinking about reconstruction or redevelopment," and added, "Right now, the Democratic Party is not a party with enough problems to require reconstruction. The Democratic Party is the ruling party that firmly supports President Lee Jae-myung and holds an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly."

Yu continued, "Reconstruction or redevelopment can only succeed when the public recognizes the necessity of such actions, but at this time, a large-scale political reshuffle cannot succeed," explaining, "The president will be hurt, the Democratic Party will be in disarray, and this will end in a disastrous outcome."

President Lee Jae-myung, Yonhap News Agency

He also cited controversy over the so-called 'Myung-pick' (President Lee's selections) as evidence. Yu argued, "The president is trying to place people he wants in positions with key decision-making authority," and claimed that "highlighting Jeong Won-oh on social media is an unfair primary." Referring to the ongoing Democratic Party leadership race, he added, "The party leader is also a 'Myung-pick.'"

Regarding the delay of prosecutorial reform, Yu stated, "The reason prosecutorial reform has not been accomplished for over a year is because President Lee does not want a complete separation of investigative and prosecutorial powers," adding, "I believe the president also prevented the government from presenting its own proposal." On some Democratic lawmakers introducing a bill to allow prosecutors to retain supplementary investigative powers in exceptional cases, he commented, "The reason some lawmakers are introducing these bills and holding press conferences is because they know the president’s real intentions."

He continued, "The president may think it is better to retain some investigative powers within the prosecution," but emphasized that, "Since a complete separation of investigative and prosecutorial powers was a key campaign pledge, he should have explained this to the public and taken responsibility for resolving it." He continued, "He has had the justice minister and the prime minister do such work instead," and added, "This echoes the principle in The Prince that ‘when there is backlash, have your subordinates take the blame.’" He then said, "This is a governance tactic from the distant past, when there was not even print media."

The ruling camp immediately pushed back. Park Hong-keun, Minister of Planning and Budget, wrote on his social media that he is "appalled by Yu's remarks" and said, "It's hard to believe such words come from a comrade who endured the cold, dark winter nights of martial law together with us."

Assemblyman Park Ji-won of the Democratic Party remarked, "Mr. Yu's words have inflicted a huge wound on the Lee Jae-myung government and the party—it is simply too much," adding, "The Lee Jae-myung government still has four years in office. No matter how liberally an author speaks or comments, if you defame the government and party with such excessive leaps of logic, who does that benefit?"

Assemblyman Jang Cheol-min said, "How could someone who was once a comrade now spew curses?" questioning, "Are you wishing for the inevitable failure of the Lee Jae-myung government?" He added, "Who dares to doubt President Lee Jae-myung's commitment to prosecutorial reform? Please stop behaving like hyenas who feed on failure and division." Assemblyman Song Jae-bong also said, "It's as if he is holding a ritual in hopes of the Lee Jae-myung government's failure," and questioned, "I wonder what the reason is for going this far."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.