Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Choi Min-hee emphasized on the 17th that lawmaker Jeong Cheong-rae was a key member who supported President Lee Jae-myung during the 2018 gubernatorial election in Gyeonggi Province. This is interpreted as a reaction to recent criticism from some supporters of President Lee following lawmaker Jeong's announcement to run for party leader.
Lawmaker Choi stated on his Facebook page that, "During the 2018 election, I supported candidate Jeon Hae-cheol and participated in the campaign for candidate Lee Jae-myung as the Democratic Party's local committee chair after the primary. When Nam Kyung-pil mentioned our candidate dropping out, I posted a support message for candidate Lee Jae-myung on Facebook," and added that he faced tremendous attacks online and offline from organized individuals.
Lawmaker Choi said, "The only people who fought against the anonymous attack group until the end back then were Jeong Cheong-rae, Kim Hyun, Pyo Chang-won, Choi Min-hee, and other current and former lawmakers, as well as writer Lee Dong-hyung," emphasizing that lawmaker Jeong was a comrade who fought against systematic attacks alongside him.
He also noted that when the controversy over actress Kim Mo of a certain newspaper arose, lawmaker Jeong Cheong-rae actively defended then-Mayor Lee Jae-myung of Seongnam and led the resolution of the situation.
Lawmaker Choi introduced that during the attack incident on Representative Lee Jae-myung last January, lawmaker Jeong Cheong-rae played a leading role in forming the party's political terrorism response committee at the highest level.
Lawmaker Choi stated, "Former floor leader Park Chan-dae seems likely to run for party leader," and assessed that "both are valuable Democratic Party assets." He added, "Instead of criticizing, it would be good to actively promote the strengths and charms of the candidates each supports."