Democratic Party's Candidate Committee Cuts Veteran Min Byung-doo... Dongdaemun Designated as Youth Priority Strategy Zone

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] The Democratic Party of Korea has decided to cut off (exclude from nomination) Min Byung-doo, a three-term lawmaker representing Dongdaemun-eul, Seoul.

On the afternoon of the 5th, the Party Affairs Committee announced at a meeting held at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul, that "Dongdaemun-eul has been designated as a youth-priority strategic electoral district."

Dongdaemun-eul is the constituency of Min, a three-term senior lawmaker and chairman of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee. Min had previously declared his resignation from the National Assembly in 2018 amid the Me Too controversy but later withdrew it. Earlier, on the 9th of last month, the Party Affairs Committee decided to exclude former lawmaker Jeong Bong-ju, who was involved in a Me Too controversy, from nomination.

Min immediately expressed his intention to request a reconsideration of this decision. In a post on his Facebook right after the announcement of the Party Affairs Committee's decision, Min argued, "There is no basis to overturn the Supreme Council's decision two years ago to reinstate my lawmaker position and the eligibility judgment by the Supreme Council on January 2." He also emphasized, "There is no defect in the legislative activity evaluation, suitability survey, or competitiveness survey, so excluding me from nomination does not comply with the party's constitution and regulations."

The Democratic Party is reportedly seriously considering deploying lawyer Kim Nam-guk, the author of the 'Cho Kuk (former Minister of Justice) White Paper.' Since Jang Kyung-tae, the Democratic Party's Youth Committee chairman, has already registered as a preliminary candidate in this district and is campaigning, a primary contest among youth preliminary candidates is also anticipated.

The Party Affairs Committee decided to designate Gangnam-byeong and Ansan Danwon as youth-priority strategic districts along with Dongdaemun-eul and plans to request the Strategic Party Affairs Committee to approve this.

They also designated Gunpo-si Gap and Gunpo-si Eul in Gyeonggi Province and Suncheon-si in Jeollanam-do, where electoral district adjustments are possible, as strategic electoral districts and plan to request the Strategic Party Affairs Committee to review candidates, including existing ones.

Decisions on primaries were also made for two districts. In Siheung-si Eul, Gyeonggi Province, candidates Kim Bong-ho, Kim Yoon-sik, and Jo Jung-sik will compete in a primary, and in Ansan-si Danwon-gu Gap, Gyeonggi Province, candidates Ko Young-in and Kim Hyun will compete.

In the case of Choi Sun-kyung, a candidate in the Hongseong-Yesan area of Chungnam Province, her qualification as a primary candidate was revoked due to the election commission's referral to the prosecution on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act.

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