'Choi Min-hee's inspection' brings full-scale factional conflict... Additional released transcripts of Choi's detonator (comprehensive)

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporters Kim Jeong-jin, Park Jae-ha, Oh Gyu-jin, and Choi Joo-seong = The conflict between the pro-Myung faction and the pro-Blue faction within the Democratic Party of Korea appears to be escalating into an all-out war following Kim Min-seok's order to conduct an ethics inspection on top member Choi Min-hee.

In a situation where sporadic clashes continue over the party's own investigation into suspicions of group membership of Shincheonji members, the pro-Myung faction, which had been on the defensive, actually went on a counterattack when Supreme Council member Choi's remarks that President Lee Jae-myung opposed the impeachment of then-President Yoon Seok-yeol when he was party leader became known.

In response to this, the pro-Blue faction increased the level of its offensive by not only opposing Representative Kim's inspection order, but also early bringing out the 'flag of reform' that it had announced that it would raise on the 100th day (24th) of Representative Kim's inauguration.

The Democratic Party's leadership split into two groups this morning and held a top-level and press conference.

On this day, the day after Representative Kim ordered an inspection of Supreme Council member Choi, the three top members of the pro-Blue faction did not attend and instead held a press conference. The pro-Myung faction faction criticized them for not attending without prior notice and condemned Supreme Council member Choi's words and actions.

Supreme Council member Choi Min-hee, a member of the pro-Blue faction, held a separate press conference at 9:30 a.m. on this day and explained her past remarks again, saying, "President Lee has consistently called for and carried out the impeachment of Yoon Seok-yeol since the civil war on December 3."

He said at this event that President Lee "might have said incorrectly that he opposed the impeachment of former Prime Minister Han Deok-soo," and then explained, "What he meant was that he ultimately accepted the impeachment of former Prime Minister Han and explained that this was a virtue of the president."

Supreme Commissioner Choi immediately held a joint press conference with Supreme Commissioners Lee Seong-yoon and Han Min-soo and strongly criticized Representative Kim through a joint press statement.

In the press conference, they raised their voices by raising their voices, saying, "The person who will conduct an ethics inspection now is Representative Kim," raising questions about not only the order for an ethics inspection of Supreme Council member Choi, but also the way Representative Kim handled the results of the Shincheonji suspicion investigation, the lukewarm attitude toward the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, and differences of opinion between the party and government in the process of discussing comprehensive real estate tax reform.

At the same time, he said to Representative Kim, "Without anyone asking him to, he raised suspicions of being 'anti-myeong, schismatic, and Shincheonji' and amplified them on his own, throwing the party into confusion and crisis and splitting the party members in half," and the Democratic Party is currently unable to get out of the quagmire of indecision. “Renovation is needed,” he said.

The pro-Cheong faction's mention of reform is analyzed to mean that today's press conference was not a one-off action, but that the struggle over the line will begin in earnest in the future.

Previously, former CEO Chung Cheong-rae also mentioned on YouTube at the end of last month that when asked about his role after 100 days of CEO Kim's inauguration, he said, "I am thinking about what flag I will raise at that time."

On the other hand, the pro-Myung faction faction argued that the inspection of Supreme Council member Choi's words and actions was justified, while at the same time strongly criticizing the pro-Cheong faction's collective action.

At the highest level, Supreme Council member Park Seon-won mentioned the process by which President Lee led the impeachment of former President Yoon when he was the party leader and emphasized, "Any party leadership is not allowed to make disparaging remarks about him." He then targeted Supreme Council member Choi and said, "When you apologize, apologize," and added, "Otherwise, in the end, it will be nothing but anti-myeong and divisive behavior."

Chief Spokesperson Park Seong-joon met with reporters after the Supreme Council and criticized, “Has the Democratic Party had a history of not having Supreme Council members come in during Supreme Council time?” and “This is a very inappropriate group action that is dividing the party.”

Regarding the claim that Representative Kim's inspection order was unfair, he said, "The party also viewed it as a serious issue, so we ordered an ethics inspection team to investigate. We will just have to wait and see how the investigation progresses."

When it was pointed out that Supreme Commissioner Choi was not given a prior opportunity to explain himself, he countered by saying, "Is it right to have prior consultation when conducting an ethics inspection?"

Chun Jun-ho, senior vice-president of the National Assembly, who is classified as a pro-Myung faction, also appeared on the party's official YouTube broadcast that day and emphasized the need for an inspection of Supreme Council member Choi, saying, "We must be very careful about inappropriate actions and words and actions of lawmakers, and the party needs to take firm action."

He continued, "Many people think (Supreme Councilor Choi's) statement itself is inappropriate, and I think I feel the same way," he explained. "If you remain silent, there is a possibility that the statement may turn out to be true, and there is a part that distorts the president's judgment at the time that is different from the facts, so there was a need to correct it."

Supreme Commissioner Yong-gi Jeong also appeared on MBC's 'News Show' this afternoon and said of Choi's remarks, "This is a serious issue that could spread to the idea that the President may have actually joined hands with Han Deok-soo," and emphasized, "The ethics inspection team must clearly uncover those who deny the government's legitimacy."

He pointed out, "However, it is unfortunate that this is being used as a rudder to demand reform by saying that the party leader should be inspected as an excuse to counterattack or that the party leader's support system is not good."

The Democratic National Innovation Council, a hard-core, pro-Myung group within the Democratic Party, also issued a statement on the same day, calling for the expulsion of Supreme Council member Choi.

The Innovation Council stated, “Supreme Council Member Choi’s remarks are not an issue that can be ended with just an explanation and an apology,” and added, “Even if he made his own political argument by mentioning the President’s judgment, if he made an outrageous statement that distorted the President’s position in the process, his political responsibility is by no means light.”

It has been reported that some pro-Myung party members are also signing petitions demanding the expulsion of Supreme Council member Choi and filing joint charges of defamation against President Lee and Representative Kim.

Meanwhile, it is known that Supreme Council member Choi also raised suspicions that the Unification Church and Shincheonji supported CEO Kim Min-seok at a closed-door meeting of party members last month, which was the issue, and further controversy is expected over this.

According to the transcript of the meeting released through Hankook Ilbo's YouTube channel 'Issue Spreader', Supreme Council member Choi claimed at the time, "There is a transcript showing that the Unification Church pushed CEO Kim Min-seok," and "We even received a report that Gwangju's Shincheonji Church pushed CEO Kim, but we could not confirm the credibility of the report, so we did not say anything."

At this event, he commented on Kim Ji-yong, head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Office, whose appointment was opposed by hardliners within the party, saying, "He is not a pro-Yoon (pro-Yoon Seok-yeol) core, he is not anti-Yoon, he is not a prosecutorialist, he just seems like an opportunist," and then said, "In the end, it must be seen that the president made (the choice)."

At the same time, after mentioning the new chief of staff Lim Kwang-hyun, he said, "The head of the Central Investigation Agency and Lim Kwang-hyun are also yes men," and added, "The president is saying, 'I will do everything in the second term' (meaning)."