Yoo Simin: "Yoon the beetle dismantled his own home... Lee, too, is on a path to isolating himself"

Yoo Simin criticizes President Lee on Park Si-young's YouTube show

Invoking "dolphins," he says, "I don't know why they're heading toward death"

"Democratic Party must restore its political camp"... Kim declines to comment

Writer Yoo Simin, a commentator aligned with the ruling bloc, criticized President Lee Jae-myung, saying that he was destroying his own support base, just as former President Yoon Suk Yeol had done.

Appearing on the YouTube program "Park Si-young TV" on October 28, Yoo said, "The biggest problem behind the decline in approval ratings for the president's handling of state affairs is the disintegration of the political camp." He added, "The beetle called Yoon Suk Yeol dismantled his own home completely, and the current government and President Lee Jae-myung are doing exactly the same thing."

Bringing up "Minti07," he says, "The president is isolating himself... the political camp is disintegrating"

Author Yoo Si-min criticized President Lee Jae-myung during an appearance on the YouTube show “Park Si-young TV” on the 28th. YouTube.

Referring to entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre, Yoo said, "Many animals sometimes harm themselves. We observe phenomena such as pods of dolphins heading toward a sandy shore and dying en masse." He added, "When I look at those people, they are heading toward their deaths, but I don't know why." "Those people" is understood to refer to President Lee and his ardent supporters.

As an example of President Lee's isolation, Yoo cited "Minti07," the Democratic Party of Korea's official YouTube program. He claimed, "Representative Kim Minseok, the party leader whom President Lee supported and helped put in place, reorganized the program and put Representative Kim Namjun, who is known as part of the so-called 'Seongnam faction,' in charge." He added, "The program mainly features critics who go around attacking every political leader and commentator except President Lee." Yoo continued, "For a year and a half since taking office, President Lee himself has continued down the path of isolating himself. The result is the disintegration of his political camp."

Yoo likened the decline in President Lee's approval ratings to the saying "The people are water, and the ruler is a boat" (gunjumin-su). He said, "It means that if the current of public opinion turns against the ruler, the boat could capsize." He added, "What this indicator tells us is that the president does not have the trust of many citizens." He continued, "The lower the approval rating for the president's handling of state affairs, the greater the likelihood that he will fail to achieve what he originally set out to do," adding, "In extreme cases, he may not serve out his term, as happened with Park Geun-hye and Yoon Suk Yeol."

Commenting on the rise in support for the Rebuilding Korea Party in some recent polls, Yoo said, "People now see it not as the 'icebreaker' for democratic and progressive forces, but as a 'lifeboat.'" He added, "They are thinking of switching to a lifeboat because they dislike the Democratic Party's course and think it is going to sink."

Democratic Party of Korea leader Kim Minseok delivers opening remarks at a Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 14th. Photo by Yoon Dongju.

He stressed, "The most important thing for the Democratic Party leadership to do is restore the political camp." He added, "The president dismantled the camp that made him president. At a time like this, someone needs to exercise political leadership, and that would normally be the party leader." Regarding Kim's approval rating, Yoo said, "There were hardly any people who had an incentive to say that he was doing a good job."

Kim said he would refrain from commenting on the matter. In a phone interview with Minti07 on October 29, Kim said, "Our party is facing difficulties both internally and externally." He added, "We need to avoid responding to divisive language with more divisive language, use language that is even slightly less divisive, or exercise restraint so as not to inflame such issues where possible." He continued, "During the last party leadership election, I sometimes got quite angry when I heard various things Yoo said," but added, "I don't think I need to comment on each of them individually." Responding to the criticism of Minti07, he said, "I don't think we need to view even these matters through a partisan lens."

Criticism grows increasingly heated... Lee says he does not want punishment after defamation complaint

This is not the first time Yoo has criticized President Lee. In July, Yoo appeared on the YouTube program "Maebul Show" and criticized Lee, saying he was on "a path to inevitable failure," drawing a backlash from supporters of Lee Jae-myung.

President Lee Jaemyung. Yonhap News Agency

On September 22, Yoo said on Media Today's YouTube channel, referring to President Lee's remarks at a press conference on prosecutorial reform, that "the president has been deceiving the public all along." The civic group Citizens' Action for Correcting Judicial Injustice claimed the remarks were false and filed a police complaint against Yoo on September 28, accusing him of defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection. However, on October 20, President Lee stated that he did not want Yoo to be punished. Defamation is a crime for which a person cannot be punished if the victim does not wish to pursue punishment.

Meanwhile, political commentator Park Si-young, who hosted the program that day, is considered part of the pro-Jeong Cheong-rae faction. A company operated by Park was embroiled in controversy after it became known that it had received about 2.1 billion won in election consulting fees from Gyeonggi Governor Choo Mi-ae's side during the June 3 local elections. Last month, Kim said, "Since public funds were used, we are carefully monitoring whether the contract price and terms were appropriate," drawing a backlash from the pro-Jeong faction. The broadcast featuring Yoo reportedly drew nearly 150,000 concurrent viewers.

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