Jung Chung-rae brushes off resignation calls, citing "political freedom"

[Financial News] Calls are emerging within the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) for Jung Chung-rae to step down before the party convention on Aug. 17. The leadership effectively dismissed the demand, saying it would leave the matter to "free will."
At the party caucus on the 11th, some lawmakers reportedly argued that Jung should resign to ensure a fair party convention. However, the leadership said it would not formally discuss the issue at the party level.
After the caucus, Lee Joo-hee, the floor spokesperson, told reporters, "There were opinions calling for Jung's resignation, but we are not formally discussing it right now," adding that it was "the party leader's political freedom."
In his opening remarks at the caucus, Jung stressed unity and indirectly drew a line against the resignation calls. "Throughout history, we have won when we were united and lost when we were divided," he said. "What we need to do is rally tightly around President Lee Jae-myung, make the Lee Jae-myung administration a success, and resolve to win back power for sure." He added, "The harder things get, the more we should take a deep breath, look up at the sky once, and return to the basics and principles to think deeply."
Earlier, Jung drew backlash from pro-Lee lawmakers after saying, in connection with calls to take responsibility for the party's local election results, that "the people are eternal and power is temporary." Lawmaker Park Jie-won urged Jung to resign and not run in the party convention, while Jim Yong Kim, a former vice head of the Institute for Democracy, called it "a major slip of the tongue."

uknow@fnnews.com Kim Yun-ho Reporter