With Lee's Backing, Kim Min-seok Takes on Pro-Jung Camp in All-Out Clash... 'Myung-Cheong Showdown' Reignites

[Financial News] Factional conflict between the pro-Lee (aligned with Lee Jae Myung) and pro-Jung (aligned with Jung Chung-rae) camps in the Democratic Party of Korea has erupted again, with the so-called “Myung-Cheong Showdown Season 2” gathering momentum. After reaffirming unity between the party and the presidential office over dinner with President Lee Jae Myung, party leader Kim Min-seok moved to impose discipline within the party. Pro-Jung Supreme Council members, meanwhile, confronted him head-on, demanding an ethics probe into Kim. The pro-Lee camp also branded their move “anti-Lee factionalism,” bringing the struggle for control within the party leadership into the open.
Supreme Council members Choi Min-hee, Han Min-soo and Lee Sung-yoon skipped the regular Supreme Council meeting on the 13th and held a separate press conference at the National Assembly Communication Center, where they sharply criticized party leader Kim. Han took issue with the order to conduct an ethics probe into Choi, arguing that Kim himself should be investigated instead. Lee also raised suspicions that the party's Membership Cleanup Task Force (TF), which investigated allegations involving Shincheonji, had actually conducted a targeted probe aimed at former party leader Jung Chung-rae.
The conflict was triggered when party leader Kim ordered an ethics probe after Choi called photojournalists covering the National Assembly “hyenas.” The controversy widened after it emerged that Choi had told a closed-door meeting with party members in her constituency that President Lee Jae Myung had also opposed impeaching former President Yoon Suk Yeol, and that the president's judgment is not always right.
At the Supreme Council meeting that day, Supreme Council member Park Sun-won said, “In July 2024, Lee Jae Myung, then party leader, directed that the possibility of martial law be brought into public discussion, and Kim Min-seok, then senior Supreme Council member, led the situation room.” He stressed, “We foresaw an insurrection and stopped it.” He continued, “No one in the party leadership should be allowed to make disparaging remarks about this,” and said pointedly, “Apologize when it's called for. Otherwise, what is that if not anti-Lee factionalism?”
Supreme Council member Jeon Yong-gi also called for restraint over the separate press conference by the three pro-Jung members, asking, “If you say there's no factionalism, should you be acting in a way that causes this kind of division?” Chief spokesperson Park Sung-joon spoke to reporters after the meeting and said, “Nothing like this has ever happened in the DPK's history,” criticizing it as “a very inappropriate collective action that divides the party.” He also described Choi's remarks about President Lee as a “grave matter,” reaffirming the need for an ethics probe.
The timing of this clash has drawn particular attention: it erupted just after President Lee invited party leader Kim and floor leader Han Byung-do to Cheong Wa Dae for dinner on the 11th. At the time, Lee said the party and government should act as one and called for close communication with the National Assembly. The following day, Kim also stressed that the party and the presidential office had already settled their principles on real estate policy. As Kim seeks to tighten his grip on the party leadership by championing a united front between the party and the presidential office, the pro-Jung camp's collective backlash has brought factional conflict—dormant for some time—back into the open.

[email protected] Jiwon Song Reporter