**People Power Party: “The Democratic Party Paralyzing the Government is a Martial Law Instigator”**
Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung stated, “If martial law had been implemented, a ‘Korean Killing Field’ where abduction, torture, and murder are routine would have unfolded.” This is a reference to the Killing Fields incident under the Cambodian government in the 1970s, where about 1.7 million residents were victims of forced labor and massacres.
On the 16th, Lee mentioned on Facebook, “The citizens and Parliament members, who acted faster than the deployment of martial law troops, narrowly prevented it.” He added, “If martial law had been enacted, the resistance from the people and the violent suppression by the military would have been repeated and expanded, causing the whole nation to turn into a sea of blood like Gwangju in May.”
Furthermore, Lee warned that “as mentioned in the death note supposedly belonging to former military intelligence officer Noh Sang-won, tens of thousands of citizens disliked by others would have disappeared without a trace at the frontlines, on uninhabited islands, or at sea, branded as anti-state forces by martial law troops, foreign mercenaries, and fake North Korean soldiers,” potentially carrying fake notes like “Long live Kim Il-sung” or “We regret our anti-state acts.”
Regarding the People Power Party, he stated, “Instead of disciplining Yoon Seok-yeol, who initiated a military coup, they are defending him.” He expressed suspicion of the party’s solidarity with insurgent forces, based on their behavior like blocking the resolution for martial law repeal and supporting the current leadership’s attitude towards insurrection.
Lee predicted, “The People Power Party supports and defends the insurrectionists planning mass killings led by Yoon Seok-yeol, but I assure you they will disown Yoon within 100 days.” He questioned whether the party could indeed be called a national party that acts in place of national sovereignty while defending national violence instead of respecting citizens.
In response to an impeachment opposition rally held in Gwangju on the 15th, he remarked, “They went to a place where thousands were killed or hurt by military guns and knives due to Chun Doo-hwan’s illegal martial law to hold a protest defending that martial law. How can they be human?” He compared it to “acting like a demon defending killers at the wake of innocent victims.”
Previously on the 15th, People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won accused the Democratic Party of “playing the role of a martial law instigator with legislative dictatorship, successive impeachments, and budget cuts that paralyzed state affairs.” She claimed that “the president had no choice but to consider martial law.” She also accused the Democratic Party of planning an early impeachment of the president to protect leader Lee Jae-myung and criticized the Constitutional Court as an accomplice to the Democratic Party’s paralysis of state affairs and for conducting biased and unfair trials.
On the 16th, People Power Party lawmaker Shin Dong-wook also reacted by stating, “Democratic politicians must immediately stop their anti-constitutional and anachronistic madness of labeling the public as far-right forces.”