A dispute that flared around the Democratic Party's Aug. 17 national convention has reignited after the party confirmed signs that members of Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, known as Shincheonji, had joined the party in an organized fashion. After Kim Min-seok, the party's leader, said he had secured grounds pointing to organized enrollment, allies of former leader Jung Chung-rae pushed back sharply, asking, "Who leaked this, and for what?"
Appearing on the party's YouTube channel "Minty 07" on the 14th, Kim said, "It has been confirmed that there was group enrollment on a considerable scale, and beyond that, we have also accumulated quite meaningful testimony." Asked whether the enrollment was indeed organized, Kim said, "There is testimony." The party plans to decide after further verification whether to disclose the findings at a general meeting of lawmakers and whether to refer the matter to investigators.
Kim raised the allegation of Shincheonji involvement during the party's national convention, making it a flashpoint for internal division. After winning the leadership race, Kim appointed Park Sun-won, a lawmaker aligned with President Lee Jae-myung, as head of a task force on membership review and assigned him to examine the suspected group enrollment. The findings emerged recently, and the conflict has resurfaced. According to political sources, the scale of the group enrollment is believed to be around 50,000 people.
Following Kim's remarks, Jung said, "If there is a secret alliance of anti-Lee forces, divisionists and Shincheonji, it must be broken. If there is none, then the suspicion that one exists must be shattered." The comment was a criticism of Kim for withholding the full details of the allegation on the grounds that he was weighing how much to disclose. Jung added, "Disclose what there is to disclose, and let those responsible take responsibility," and stressed, "Whoever tries to paper this over is the culprit. Whoever tries to slip away, whoever muddies the water, is the culprit."
Lawmakers aligned with Jung backed him in unison. Han Min-soo, a member of the party's supreme council, said, "We were clearly briefed that organized voting had not been confirmed, yet the suspicion is being dredged up again," and stressed, "The process and the results of the inquiry, and the grounds supporting the claims, must all be disclosed without exception. If it is false, someone must take responsibility." Choi Min-hee, another supreme council member, demanded, "The existence of a three-way secret alliance of anti-Lee forces, Shincheonji and divisionists must be brought to light, and the results of the fact-finding must be made public." Lee Sung-yoon, also a supreme council member, pointed to how the findings came to be reported in the media and said, "The leader said that if a confidential matter were made public, he would expel the person from meetings regardless of rank. He should keep that promise, get to the bottom of it and carry out the expulsion."
Kim plans to set the course of the party's response in a direction that serves the party as a whole. Still, Kim stressed, "It could be a bigger problem if this recurs or if concerns linger, so I will clear up what can be cleared up on this occasion."