Korean Democratic Party Stumbles Again with Massive Lee Scandals

Picture of Yoon and Lee during the presidential debate back in March. Photo: SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg 

Since Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservative regime took power this May, the transition from the previous liberal regime of Moon Jae-in has been a rough ride for Korea during the last few months, with unprecedented political polarization amongst the general population. 

One of the evident results of the uneasy transition is the continually heightened tension between the conservative People’s Power Party and the liberal Democratic Party. 

The increased tension between the two has resulted in a lack of cooperation in the Korean National Assembly, which delayed essential bills from being passed. This includes lowering the comprehensive real-estate tax rate for the majority of the population.

The negative sentiment between the two major parties has reached a point where it has become an everyday routine for each party to accuse the other of committing politically malicious acts without clear evidence, often fabricating information to manipulate the public sentiment toward the other party. 

Picture of Lee Jae Myung running for president as the leader of the Korean Democratic Party. Photo: Jung Yeon-Je / Center for American Progress

When a massive scandal of Lee Jae Myung, the current leader of the Democratic Party, resurfaced this week, tension between the two parties reached an all-time high. 

In September, Myung was accused of illegally intervening in the land development of Daejang-dong during his time as the governor of Gyeonggi province, allowing hundreds of millions of dollars to be distributed among several close personnel of Lee.

While some disregarded this scandal as an attempted political attack by the People's Power Party, it gained national attention when one of the closest personnel of Lee was arrested this week by prosecutors for receiving an illegal campaign fund worth nearly $600,000. 

Prosecutors informed the media that they had found multiple pieces of evidence that led to this arrest and hope to accelerate the investigation surrounding the illegal campaign fund. Due to the fact that the existence of this fund is being proven accurate by prosecutors, public sentiment is now increasingly hostile toward Lee.

With Lee’s reputation and political life in danger, the Korean Democratic Party is experiencing extreme internal conflict as it strives to keep its supporters in place amid the scandal. 

In response to the current investigation surrounding Lee, the Democratic Party is claiming that the investigation is a political attack targeted explicitly at the high-ranking officials of the Democratic Party by the People’s Power Party, in an effort to achieve political revenge on the previous Moon regime. 

With public sentiment remaining extremely skeptical of Lee and his various scandals, the Democratic Party could face significant political damage if it fails to adequately respond.