A group of Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers pushing to drop charges against President Lee Jae-myung fired back on Tuesday at former Roh Moo-hyun Foundation Chairman Yoo Si-min, who called their campaign "crazy."
Yoo, along with broadcaster Kim Eo-jun, is aligned with the pro-Chung Cheong-rae faction. Observers say his criticism aims to check the pro-Lee faction, which controls the party leadership.
Rep. Park Sung-joon, standing representative of the "Lawmakers' Group for Dropping Charges Against President Lee Jae-myung and Launching a Parliamentary Investigation," spoke to reporters after the group's steering committee meeting at the National Assembly.
"Many lawmakers share the conviction that exposing the fabricated indictments—the dark shadow cast over President Lee—is our calling," Park said.
Rep. Lee Geon-tae, the group's secretary, said the Yoon Suk-yeol administration indicted President Lee on eight charges through investigations aimed at "eliminating political rivals."
"The products of prosecutorial dictatorship by Yoon Suk-yeol's politicized prosecution are garbage and must be discarded," Lee said.
Supreme Council member Kang Deuk-gu, also a group member, pushed back on Facebook.
"This group is not about factional politics or internal power struggles," Kang wrote. "Criticism is acceptable, but collectively mocking lawmakers who raise issues of fabricated indictments is not constructive criticism. Please maintain some dignity."
On Saturday, Yoo appeared on MBC and called the group "strange."
"When many people do things that seem crazy, either they're crazy or I'm crazy—and I don't think I'm the crazy one," Yoo said.
"If they're convinced there was prosecutorial misconduct, they should launch a parliamentary investigation or exercise legislative power," he added. "Why is the ruling party with an overwhelming majority talking about collecting 10 million signatures? Those in that group should get out quickly."
The group has 104 members as of Tuesday. It plans to hold a resolution rally on Sunday to discuss the timeline for pushing a parliamentary investigation.