Cho Seung-rae Rejects Claims That Lee's 'Ruling Party Responsibility' Post Targets Leadership

Democratic Party Secretary-General Cho Seung-rae refuted claims on June 14 that President Lee Jae-myung’s message stating, "The ruling party must focus more on the language of responsibility," was directed at the leadership led by Jung Chung-rae, calling such interpretations a "distortion of the President's intent."

During a press conference held that day, when asked about the interpretation that President Lee's social media post was aimed at the Democratic Party leadership, Cho replied, "Interpretations can vary," before making his remarks.

He emphasized, "Rather than targeting a specific individual or the leadership, the President was emphasizing the sense of responsibility the ruling party should have in managing state affairs following the local elections," adding, "Narrowing the focus to a specific person or the leadership is a distortion of the President's intent."

He continued, "Such interpretations are inappropriate and can only be seen as using the President for other political motives," and added, "There will be two changes in the (ruling party) leadership over the remaining four years of the President's term. It is appropriate to view this as a general message regarding how that leadership should conduct internal party debates and operations."

Secretary-General Cho also highlighted the achievements of the recent local elections, stating, "There are various assessments, but we must not overlook several meaningful outcomes."

He explained, "We produced the first female head of a metropolitan government, two three-term heads of local governments came from the Democratic Party, and for the first time in Daejeon, a metropolitan council with a female majority was formed," adding, "Out of 3,192 candidates who ran in these local elections, 2,294 were elected, marking a record-high win rate of 72%."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.