Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's policy research institute, on the 14th criticized Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok's assessment of the current political situation, calling it "a remark that does nothing at all to help President Lee Jae-myung." Kim had compared the Democratic Party's current situation to the period surrounding the 2004 impeachment of former President Roh Moo-hyun.
Cho wrote on his Facebook page that day that Kim "brought up the Roh Moo-hyun impeachment in order to criticize Governor Choo Mi-ae." He added, "If it comes to this, the notion of a 'Lee Jae-myung impeachment' ends up being spread around," and asked, "Has he never heard of 'Don't Think of an Elephant'?" The phrase refers to the phenomenon in which denying a particular frame only imprints it more firmly on the public mind. Cho stressed, "Impeach President Lee Jae-myung? Out of the question. There is nothing unconstitutional or unlawful here at all."
Speaking on Democratic Party TV that day about the party's current state, in which criticism of the government has emerged from figures including Governor Choo, Kim said, "I wonder whether things are drifting into something resembling the early signs of that period when they tried to impeach former President Roh Moo-hyun within roughly his first year."
Cho also shared the results of a Realmeter opinion poll released that day and criticized the Democratic Party's strategy over the decline in President Lee's approval rating. He said the drop was "the result of a 'structural majority' strategy centered on a 'new Lee Jae-myung' that cast out Moon Jae-in, Cho Kuk, Kim Ou-joon, Jung Chung-rae and Rhyu Si-min as enemies."
He went on to argue, "Anyone who says that state affairs can succeed, that general elections can be won and that power can be retained with the new Lee Jae-myung alone is precisely a treacherous flatterer," adding, "Anyone who denies the relay of democratic governments and makes a habit of splitting the camp from within is a traitor."
