Yoo Si-min, a commentator aligned with the ruling bloc, has again publicly targeted President Lee Jae-myung — arguing that the Lee administration resembles the Yoon Suk-yeol administration — stirring turmoil within the ruling camp. Even members of the faction loyal to former party leader Chung Chung-rae, whom Yoo had backed during the August 17 party convention, are now distancing themselves from the writer.
Rep. Jung Jin-wook of the Democratic Party, a member of the faction loyal to President Lee, wrote on Facebook on the 25th: "Yoo Si-min, the venomous curser, is now a shaman rather than a writer." He added: "A shaman must be right to survive. Following the trend of public opinion, he has bet that the president's approval rating will fall to the 30% range. To make that come true, the intensity of his curses will only grow harsher." Jung went on to criticize: "This is what we call a vicious cycle. Yoo Si-min has nothing to contribute to this world other than saying, 'See! I was right!' The tragedy of Yoo Si-min the shaman."
Park Hong-keun, Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Budget and a member of the Democratic Party, also wrote on Facebook: "In a YouTube broadcast running more than two hours today, Yoo poured out sharp daggers at President Lee like a waterfall." He said: "What was most jarring was that he compared President Lee to Yoon Suk-yeol, the ringleader of insurrection."
Park continued: "Yoo said, 'Like Yoon Suk-yeol, President Lee is dismantling the foundation of his own governance, and it is fatal.' He also said, 'Like Yoon Suk-yeol, he does not keep people around him who speak candidly.'" Park called this "baseless conjecture and curses." He added: "This administration is barely a year old. It is a well that Yoo helped dig himself. Should he spit into that well just because he dislikes it?"
Han Min-soo, a supreme council member of the Democratic Party and a member of the pro-Chung faction, said on SBS Radio's "Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show" regarding Yoo's remarks: "Yoo spoke his own thoughts as a critic, but making such judgments does not look good, and it makes me wonder whether everything Yoo says is correct."
Democratic Party Rep. Song Jae-bong also wrote on Facebook: "It must be very comfortable to live like Yoo Si-min, because you can be supported and respected by taking no responsibility and only spewing venom." He added: "Please set aside the excessive curses, even for a moment."
Appearing on the YouTube program "Jang In-soo's Journalist" on the 24th, Yoo made remarks including: "President Lee united the entire progressive reform camp through a political coalition to overcome the insurrection and won 49%. He has since been dismantling this himself." On the party convention at which Kim Min-seok was elected leader, Yoo said: "For the president to pick and try to install the ruling party leader is a move toward monarchy or aristocracy," adding, "There is no winner in this convention."
