Allies of former leader Jung Chung-rae in South Korea's ruling Democratic Party have turned on party chief Kim Min-seok over an internal probe into allegations that members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus joined the party en masse. They are demanding that Kim disclose the basis for, and the findings on, the "secret three-way alliance" of Shincheonji, forces opposed to President Lee Jae-myung and divisive elements that he alleged during the Aug. 17 party convention — and warning they will hold him accountable without a satisfactory explanation. A factional conflict that had briefly subsided is flaring again.
Choi Min-hee, a member of the party's supreme council, wrote on Facebook on the 15th in a post titled "Let's Get to the Truth on Shincheonji and Disclose It Transparently" that Kim, as a candidate, had publicly declared that "breaking the secret three-way alliance of Shincheonji, anti-Lee forces and divisive elements is the essence of the Aug. 17 convention," according to political sources on the 16th. "If such a secret three-way alliance exists, it must be broken, but two rounds of briefings produced no report of any evidence for it," Choi said.
Choi stressed that the allegation of organized party enrollment by Shincheonji members and the allegation that a specific political faction within the party was linked to the church must be investigated separately. "Who are the anti-Lee forces? Who are the divisive elements? We need to verify whether any politician in the Democratic Party formed an organized secret alliance with Shincheonji," she said. "It is well known that after candidate Kim's remarks about a secret alliance, reports poured out saying he had identified then-leader Jung Chung-rae as the party behind it."
She also questioned how the findings reached the press. "We must establish who played the Shincheonji card with the media, and why," Choi said. "Even though Kim imposed a gag order, we need to determine which side leaked the Shincheonji report, and who did it." She added that she had been cautious to avoid splitting the party, but that after Kim's remarks about a secret alliance, she had no choice but to join former leader Jung — branded by the media as anti-Lee, Shincheonji-linked and divisive — along with wounded party members and supporters, in demanding the full truth.
Jung also weighed in on Facebook on the 14th. "If a secret alliance of anti-Lee forces, divisive elements and Shincheonji exists, it must be rooted out and punished; if it does not, those responsible for splitting the party with an anti-Lee, Shincheonji and divisiveness operation must be held strictly accountable," he wrote. "Disclose it as it is, and let those who must take responsibility do so," he added, in a sharp rebuke. "Whoever tries to paper this over is the culprit. Whoever tries to slip away, whoever muddies the water, is the culprit."
Supreme council members aligned with Jung have also gone public one after another. Han Min-soo told a supreme council meeting on the 15th that the Shincheonji findings amounted only to "circumstantial signs of enrollment identified by cross-checking membership rosters." He said the party had "clearly stated that it had not heard any cross-verification of enrollment dates or of whether those individuals are actually Shincheonji members, nor any account of what effect this had on the convention, and that organized voting had not been confirmed either."
Lee Sung-yoon, another supreme council member, likewise took issue with how the findings were reported in the media. "Who leaked it, and what were they after?" he asked, noting that Kim had warned of stern action against anyone who leaked confidential matters. His point was that the investigation must establish not only whether the findings are accurate but also how the information was leaked and with what political intent.
Kim, for his part, maintains that the party has secured circumstantial evidence of organized enrollment by Shincheonji members as well as testimony about interference in the primary, and he is leaving the door open to follow-up measures. Appearing on "Minti 07," a program on the party's official YouTube channel, Democratic Party TV (Korean: Minjoo Party TV), on the 15th, Kim responded to viewers who urged a forceful response to the Shincheonji allegations by saying, "If I say I will do it, I do all of it." He added, "However long it takes, however complicated the process, I will do it while observing every procedure."
On his approach going forward, Kim says he will judge what serves the interests of the party as a whole. Still, he made clear that he will not simply bury the allegations. "It could be a bigger problem if this recurs or if concerns linger, so I will settle what can be settled while we have this chance," he said.
The Democratic Party said on the 13th that it had completed its own investigation into whether Shincheonji members had joined as party members. The leadership discussed follow-up measures based on the findings at a closed supreme council meeting on the night of the 14th but reached no conclusion. Kim Tae-sun, chief of staff to the party leader, was guarded after the meeting, saying only that the party had decided to give further thought to how to handle the Shincheonji matter before making a decision.