10,000 Shincheonji Party members... Pro-Chung “means confirmation”·Pro-Chung “there is no secret alliance” (comprehensive)

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Pyeong-cheon and Kim Jeong-jin = The factional conflict within the Democratic Party of Korea appears to be intensifying following the release of the results of its own investigation into the suspicions of a group of Shincheonji church members joining the party.

The pro-Myung (pro-Lee Jae-myung) faction of the party focused on improving the system rather than fighting within the party, emphasizing that related suspicions were meaningfully confirmed in the investigation, while the pro-Cheong (pro-government Cheongnae) faction pulled the reins of the offensive on responsibility, saying that it was confirmed that the suspicions of the so-called 'anti-Myung (anti-Lee Jae-myung), separatist, and Shincheonji three-party alliance' that leader Kim Min-seok raised against former leader Chung during the national convention were groundless.

From this day to the 13th, the Democratic Party began the process of reviewing the results of the investigation into suspicions of Shincheonji for active members of the National Assembly and regional committee chairs at the party's Secretary General's Office.

Initially, the survey results were intended to be reported at a closed general meeting of members on the 3rd, but the method of sharing the survey results was changed to prevent the spread of conflict within the party.

At the time, CEO Kim apologized for raising suspicions about Shincheonji and canceled the report on the results of the investigation.

Continuing from the previous day, he said, "I would like to say I am sorry again to all those who were hurt and to the party members who love the party."

However, right after Representative Kim's remarks, Supreme Council member Lee Seong-yoon, a member of the pro-Blue faction, sharply criticized the mainstream party members who evaluated Representative Kim's apology as a 'decision'.

He said, "Some lawmakers are distorting the essence of the suspicion as if the leader made a decision for the sake of the party and the suspicion of Shincheonji is still there, but the leader made a decision to save the country. They are committing secondary harm to party members who were already hurt."

Supreme Council member Choi Min-hee also added, “The picture I want is for Representative Kim and former Representative Chung Cheong-rae to meet, discuss the issue in depth, and explain it to party members.”

In relation to this, former representative Jeong posted on Facebook and said, "Isn't this an assault incident that occurred while two people were drinking? This is not a problem that a few members of the National Assembly can solve behind closed doors. The real victims are party members and supporters who have voting rights."

The battle between the two sides intensified as they came up with conflicting interpretations of the results.

The data read included general and rights party membership figures by region, compared with the list of Shincheonji church members and the list of Democratic Party members, and testimonies from Shincheonji officials. It is reported that a total of about 10,000 party members, including about 8,000 rights party members, were confirmed to be Shincheonji church members.

In response to this, Jo Gye-won, a spokesperson for the party's ruling faction, said, "Quite a large amount of data was collected and testimonies were also collected. There were quite meaningful numbers, and the situation was quite serious in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province and North Jeolla Province."

Spokesperson Cho said, “I thought that institutionally, religious groups could intervene in the democratic decision-making and election process of political parties,” emphasizing the need to establish institutional safety measures to prevent religious groups from interfering in politics.

At the same time, he defended CEO Kim by saying, “Private viewing was a good choice,” and “I could understand that it was in this context that CEO Kim judged that another huge turmoil could be caused.”

On the other hand, after reading the same data, the pro-Cheong faction emphasized that there was no basis for organized intervention in the three-party secret alliance or Shincheonji's national convention.

Choi Min-hee, a member of the supreme council, wrote on Facebook, "The pro-Seok (pro-Kim Min-seok) group seemed to have a lot of information, so shouldn't it be covered up?" and "There was no basis for a secret alliance, and it was a number that Shincheonji Rights Party members could make public."

Supreme Council member Han Min-soo pointed out, "There is no basis for Shincheonji joining hands with anti-myeong and separatist groups to systematically or collectively intervene in the August 17 National Convention. We need to find out who infiltrated the Democratic Party, at what time and through what channels, and how many people systematically joined the Democratic Party, but we have not been able to confirm this at all."

Regarding the number of Shincheonji Rights Party members, he asked, "Is this a number that would have influenced a specific candidate?" and then warned, "Despite the apology from the party leader, if lawmakers holding key party positions talk as if Shincheonji is systematically involved in the party, make nuances as if they are connected to a specific politician, or say that the 'secret three-party alliance' was not a false claim, we will disclose the figures."

After reading it, Rep. Lim Oh-kyung said, "It just makes me laugh. It has nothing to do with the national convention at all," and added, "I'm angry that the task force prepared this as material."

As factional conflict continued over the Shincheonji issue, some within the party raised concerns.

On Facebook, five-term lawmaker Park Ji-won suggested to Representative Kim, “This is enough, so I hope you will no longer bring up the Shincheonji issue yourself.”

Rep. Park wrote, "The representative made a necessary and sufficient apology at the General Assembly and the Supreme Council, and even Secretary General Han Jeong-ae is ordering us to view the investigation data. We can't just burn the grass to get rid of fleas. It's a waste of the party."

Representative Jeong Seong-ho also appeared on MBC radio that day and said, "Should the ruling party, which is responsible for the people's livelihood, fight with each other over it (the Shincheonji controversy)?" and said that Representative Kim and former Representative Jeong should meet and resolve the matter.