At a Democratic Party of Korea workshop, a war of nerves broke out between party leader Kim Min-seok and his former rival, former leader Jung Chung-rae. Kim said there was a difference in perception with the former leader on strategy to win over the middle, and Jung publicly pushed back.
On the 27th, the former leader wrote on Facebook, "At today's lawmakers' workshop, I express regret that my real name was mentioned and used as a tool for Kim's own line of argument," and said, "Unilaterally invoking the real name of a rival from the party convention just to say what he wanted, and asserting one-sidedly, was nearly violent."
The trigger was Kim's opening remarks at the workshop. Kim said, "Jung is a representative proponent of the 'there is no middle' line. He believes we can win based on, so to speak, our camp's unity," and added, "On the question of the middle and the question of a structural majority, and where we will go, because the issue is a difference in each other's judgment, we reached a tentative conclusion that it is difficult to compromise."
The former leader signaled discomfort with Kim's workshop remarks. He also indicated that, if there is a need to publicly debate with Kim over expanding to the middle, he would not shy away. The bad blood from the Aug. 17 party convention had not dissipated.
The former leader said, "I won't object to Kim making this or that argument, but there is no benefit to grabbing the mic and unilaterally insulting a rival from the most recent party convention like this," and added, "My argument is a topic for debate; it is not a topic to be denounced unilaterally by the party leader grabbing the mic alone and saying, 'Your argument is wrong.'"
He continued, "I seriously agonized over whether responding to Kim's rude and violent mic dictatorship might inadvertently lead to internal strife, but if I did not speak today, I was deeply worried that Kim's logic and claims would harden as if they were absolute values, so I point out the issue to help activate healthy line debates."
Choi Min-hee, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party and an ally in the pro-Jung Chung-rae camp, also backed the former leader. Choi wrote on Facebook that day, "It's hard to win elections with only the traditional base. We must set the party's center, first unite and ally with the democratic reform forces, then govern well with the Lee Jae-myung administration to win support from the middle," and asked, "Is this a matter of sequence?"