Lee Hae-chan "Ashamed for failing to prevent cheating in advance... Deep apology"

Lee Hae-chan, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 11th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] The Democratic Party of Korea will participate in the proportional representation coalition party.

On the 13th, the Democratic Party announced that after conducting a 24-hour vote starting from 6 a.m. on the 12th regarding 'Participation of the Democratic Progressive Reform Camp in the Proportional Representation Coalition Party,' the results showed 74.1% in favor and 25.9% against. The vote targeted 789,868 party members with regional primary election rights, with a turnout rate of 30.6%. The Democratic Party explained that this was the highest participation rate in the history of all-member votes.

Lee Hae-chan, leader of the Democratic Party, said at the joint meeting of the COVID-19 National Crisis Overcoming Committee and the Election Countermeasures Committee on the same day, "The overwhelming support from party members means they want to punish the United Future Party's cheating, illegal acts, and anti-reform stance, and entrust us with the responsibility for reform and change in governance." However, he added, "As party leader, I feel deeply distressed and sorry for not being able to prevent such illegal and unfair acts in advance and for showing a shameful political image. I offer my sincere apologies."

He defined the satellite party of the United Future Party as 'illegal' and stated that although the response was unavoidable, he apologized for undermining the semi-proportional representation electoral system.

Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the United Future Party, told reporters on the same day, "Changing positions from day to day is not the attitude of a responsible party," and criticized, "How long has it been since we promised not to create a proportional party and passed the mixed-member proportional representation system, yet now they want to change it through tricks? This is against political ethics."

Despite the Democratic Party's participation, the coalition party faces many challenges. The Justice Party firmly maintains its position of non-participation. Justice Party lawmaker Lee Jeong-mi appeared on KBS radio that day and said, "If the other party speeds and runs red lights on the road, and we say we have no choice but to do the same, it will cause a major accident," adding, "Even the Justice Party cannot join such a line."

The Minsheng Party is divided internally on the issue. The Green Party will decide through a party member vote on the 13th and 14th, similar to the Democratic Party, while the youth party Mirae Party initially planned to officially participate but has postponed the decision, citing the need for further internal discussion.

The Political Reform Coalition, which is organizing the coalition party framework, plans to discuss issues such as candidate order allocation through a joint meeting with parties that decide to participate by the legal deadline for party formation on the 16th.

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