Why did Choi Min-hee, Lee Sung-yoon and Han Min-soo boycott the DPK Supreme Council meeting?

They protested Kim Min-seok’s decision to order an ethics committee investigation into Choi’s remarks suggesting Lee Jae Myung had opposed Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment. At a press conference, they argued Kim should face an ethics investigation himself and accused him of acting without first hearing Choi’s explanation.

What did Choi Min-hee say about Lee Jae Myung and Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment, and how did she respond?

Choi suggested Lee had opposed Yoon’s impeachment. After the presidential office called the remarks groundless, she acknowledged she had been mistaken and said Lee had consistently supported impeachment since the December 2024 martial law bid.

What did Kim Min-seok’s internal investigation find about allegations linking Shincheonji to the DPK leadership race?

The investigation found no evidence to support Kim’s allegation that anti-Lee lawmakers had colluded with Shincheonji followers to join the DPK and influence the leadership race. Kim apologized but withheld public disclosure of the probe’s results.

Top ruling party officials boycott meeting amid deepening factional rift

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Summary

Three Democratic Party of Korea Supreme Council members aligned with former leader Jung Chung-rae boycotted a meeting at the National Assembly on Friday, protesting party leader Kim Min-seok’s order for an ethics probe into Rep. Choi Min-hee. The dispute centers on Choi’s remarks about President Lee Jae Myung and Kim’s handling of allegations involving Shincheonji and the party leadership race. Kim-aligned lawmakers criticized the boycott as inappropriate and divisive.

Key Facts

Choi Min-hee, Lee Sung-yoon and Han Min-soo are three of the party’s five elected Supreme Council members.
The presidential office rejected Choi’s remarks as groundless on Thursday and expressed strong regret.
Choi later said she had been mistaken and that Lee had consistently supported Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment since the martial law bid in December 2024.
Choi also faced criticism for calling journalists a pack of hyenas in a KakaoTalk group chat.
Kim apologized earlier this month after an internal party investigation found no evidence supporting his Shincheonji allegations, but he did not publicly disclose the probe’s results.

By Yonhap

Published Nov 13, 2026 4:55 pm KST

Democratic Party of Korea leader Kim Min-seok attends a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday. Yonhap

Three members of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK)'s Supreme Council boycotted a council meeting Friday in protest of party leader Kim Min-seok's decision to order an ethics probe into one of the officials over controversial remarks about President Lee Jae Myung.

The three officials, who are aligned with former DPK leader Jung Chung-rae, criticized Kim for ordering the party's ethics committee to investigate Rep. Choi Min-hee's remarks suggesting that Lee had opposed former President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment.

Choi, along with Reps. Lee Sung-yoon and Han Min-soo, who together make up three of the party's five elected Supreme Council members, skipped the meeting and held a press conference at the National Assembly instead.

"It should be Chairman Kim himself who should face an ethics investigation right now," they said.

Rep. Choi also came under fire this week for referring to journalists as "a pack of hyenas" in a KakaoTalk group chat.

The lawmakers took aim at Kim for raising allegations that anti-Lee party lawmakers had colluded with the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a nonmainstream religious sect, to have church followers join the DPK to sway the outcome of a party leadership race earlier this year.

"He was quick to order an ethics investigation into a fellow Supreme Council member without even asking for an explanation or considering the circumstances," they added, accusing Kim of being lenient on his own misconduct.

Kim apologized earlier this month after an internal party investigation found no evidence to support his allegations regarding Shincheonji, reversing his earlier claim but withholding public disclosure of the results of the probe.

Meanwhile, lawmakers aligned with Kim criticized the three officials for boycotting Friday's meeting, accusing them of fueling divisions within the party.

"Has there ever been a time in the party's history when Supreme Council members failed to attend a leadership meeting?" DPK senior spokesperson Park Sung-joon said, calling the boycott a "highly inappropriate collective action."

The presidential office on Thursday rejected Choi's remarks as groundless and expressed strong regret. Choi later acknowledged that she had been mistaken, saying Lee had consistently supported Yoon's impeachment since the martial law bid in December 2024.

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