I am an editorial writer at The Korea Times, focusing on foreign policy, North Korea and domestic politics. My key areas of interest include North Korea, foreign interference in elections, election integrity, cyberattacks and human rights. Prior to joining the Editorial Board, I served as both Politics Desk editor and Culture Desk editor. During my career, I have reported on the Presidential Office under the Lee Myung-bak administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly.
Odd man out: Kim Byung-kee’s fall in the DPK
Rep. Kim Byung-kee, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), looks pensive during the DPK's supreme council meeting on Dec. 21. Yonhap
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Rep. Kim Byung-kee, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), has become odd man out. He is facing calls to step down not only from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) but also from within his own party.
Kim faces multiple allegations. He is accused of having been treated to meals worth 700,000 won ($485) by the former CEO of Coupang. He also allegedly accepted prepaid travel vouchers worth 1.6 million won ($1,107) from Korean Air, which he used with his family to stay in a five-star hotel on Jeju Island.
In another allegation, Kim is said to have instructed a legislative staffer to contact Hanwha Group to confirm whether Indonesia’s president-elect was planning to visit the company. He then allegedly relayed the information to his son, a case officer at the National Intelligence Service (NIS), so that it could be reported to his son’s superior.
The PPP demanded Kim’s immediate resignation. “He created the problem, so he must take responsibility,” PPP spokesperson Rep. Park Sung-hoon said on Saturday. Park added that the allegations are serious enough to cost Kim his parliamentary seat and urged him to step down.
The PPP’s reaction comes as little surprise. In a multiparty system, opposition parties routinely seize on allegations of misconduct to press for accountability while positioning themselves as credible alternatives to those in power.
What is unusual, however, is the reaction within the ruling party. Inside the DPK, few lawmakers have come forward to defend their floor leader. Kim has effectively become a besieged figure within his own party.
If the allegations are true, Kim would have committed serious violations of lawmakers’ ethical standards. Yet he is not the only politician whose ethical lapses have come under scrutiny. A recent case involves Rep. Kang Sun-woo of the DPK.
Kang was nominated as the minister of gender equality and family, but later withdrew her nomination after a series of allegations surfaced. Like Kim, Kang faced criticism for allegedly treating her staff as personal assistants.
Despite these similarities, the contrast in the DPK’s response to the two cases could not be clearer. Unlike Kim, Kang enjoyed vocal — though limited — support from within the party while under fire for ethical lapses.
DPK Chairman Jung Chung-rae publicly expressed his support for Kang, saying he hoped she would still take up the Cabinet post. Another DPK lawmaker, Rep. Seo Young-kyo, also openly backed Kang, encouraging her to persevere.
Kim, by contrast, has found himself isolated. Fellow lawmakers have largely remained silent, with no one publicly defending him. Some have even pressured him to resign. On a radio show, Rep. Park Ju-min urged Kim to step down. “If it were me, I would think deeply about what I should do and whether there is anything I can do to reduce the fallout for my party,” he said. The remark was widely interpreted as a warning that Kim’s refusal to resign would damage the DPK.
The party chairman echoed this sentiment. At a news conference on Friday, Jung said he would wait for Kim to decide his next steps. “I’m sorry about what happened. I understand he will announce his position in a few days. Until then, I will wait,” he said.
Rep. Kang Sun-woo of the Democratic Party of Korea, who was nominated to serve as minister of gender equality and family, is seen during a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly. Korea Times photo by Jung Da-bin
Jung’s coolheaded response to Kim comes as little surprise. The party chairman and the floor leader have long been an uneasy pairing. Within the DPK, Jung has often been portrayed as an anti-Lee Jae Myung figure. In a 2018 interview, Jung openly expressed his visceral dislike for Lee, who was then serving as governor of Gyeonggi Province. He described Lee as a divisive politician prone to pitting people against one another. “I don’t know why, but I don’t like him,” Jung said at the time.
Kim, by contrast, has styled himself as one of Lee’s closest confidants. During the June race to elect the DPK floor leader, Kim, a former NIS official, described himself as Lee’s right-hand man and even as a “black operations agent” prepared to do whatever was necessary for Lee.
Their sharply contrasting views of Lee naturally placed them at odds. That tension surfaced publicly in September, when Kim and his PPP counterpart agreed on the scope of three independent counsel probes. Under the agreement, they decided not to extend the special prosecutors’ tenures and to freeze staffing levels. Jung was reportedly angered by the deal and ordered Kim to renegotiate. Kim refused and instead asked Jung to apologize. The standoff was eventually defused through the intervention of the senior presidential secretary for political affairs.
The DPK is broadly divided into two rival camps: those aligned with Jung, the party leader, and those loyal to President Lee. Floor leader Kim belongs to the latter group. Yet even among Lee’s followers, few have spoken out in his defense as he faces mounting allegations. The presidential office has also remained conspicuously silent.
Kim’s bipartisan approach appears to have further alienated him from the Lee faction. In November, he drew public attention for his conciliatory stance during a National Assembly inspection. He publicly rebuked Kim Yong-beom, the presidential chief of staff for policy, for becoming visibly upset when a PPP lawmaker raised allegations involving his daughter. As Kim Yong-beom grew increasingly emotional and shouted at the opposing party lawmaker, Kim Byung-kee repeatedly urged him to calm down and not take the matter so personally. When the outburst continued, the floor leader openly criticized Kim Yong-beom’s behavior.
Kim Byung-kee’s handling of the situation earned praise from a conservative daily, which lauded him in an editorial the following day as a model of bipartisan leadership. However, the episode may have left a bitter aftertaste among some officials in the presidential office, including the policy chief himself.
More recently, Kim’s agreement with the PPP to appoint an independent counsel to investigate politicians’ alleged ties to the Unification Church has also stirred unease within the ruling party. A former church official told reporters that the organization had approached both PPP and DPK presidential candidates during the 2022 election. If true, such an investigation could implicate not only former President Yoon Suk Yeol but also the incumbent leader — a prospect unlikely to be welcomed by the presidential office.
Kim’s bipartisan overtures, once seen as political capital, now appear to have compounded his isolation, leaving him a besieged figure within his own party.