My Party's Candid Opinion... Kim Haeyoung "Moon Seokgyun's Nomination Difficult to Accept Given Public Sentiment"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Kim Haeyoung, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized the possibility of Moon Seokgyun, son of National Assembly Speaker Moon Heesang and Standing Vice Chairman of Uijeongbu Gap in Gyeonggi Province, receiving the party nomination, saying it is "difficult to accept from the public sentiment perspective."

Speaker Moon Heesang had already officially announced that he would not run in this district, and the Democratic Party has stated its policy to conduct strategic nominations without primaries in districts where incumbents do not run.

On the morning of the 20th, at the Democratic Party Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly, Supreme Council member Kim emphasized, "As the chairperson of the youth organization, I clearly state that it is difficult to accept from the public sentiment perspective that a child runs for office with the same party nomination in a district where their parent is currently a member of the National Assembly." He also pointed out, "In our country, the public generally does not agree with the inheritance of political power."

He added, "The Democratic Party's primary rule consists of 50% votes from party members and 50% votes from the general public," and also noted, "Even when a child holds a key position in the local party committee in a district where their parent is the local committee chair, it is difficult for other party members to compete."

After the Supreme Council meeting, when asked by reporters whether his remarks were about Moon Seokgyun, Kim replied, "Yes." He further added, "I think it is difficult to accept from the public sentiment perspective that a child receives the same party nomination immediately in the next term in a district where their parent is an incumbent member and currently the local committee chair."

When asked if he had proposed this to the party leadership, he said, "Yes," adding, "There have been some concerns among young party members, and I thought it was time to make a public claim from the perspective of our public sentiment." He also said, "(The leadership's feedback) was not particularly significant," and "There were Supreme Council members who sympathized."

Regarding whether he conveyed this opinion to Speaker Moon, he said, "Since I made a public statement today, I think it was naturally conveyed."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.