Yun Hojung: "Open Democratic Party's Founding and Nomination 'Inappropriate'... A Challenge to Our Party's Nomination"

Possibility of Merger with Open Democratic Party 'Dismissed'
"Some Members Expressed Willingness to Move to Citizen Party"
Regarding Unification with Justice Party, "Not Considered"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Yoon Ho-jung, Secretary General of the Democratic Party of Korea, publicly expressed regret on the 22nd regarding the selection of the proportional representation list by the Open Democratic Party. This is interpreted as a remark targeting former Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-gyeom, who decided not to run after stepping down from public office due to real estate speculation allegations and at the urging of the party leadership.

At a press conference held at the National Assembly on the same day, Secretary General Yoon said, "The Open Democratic Party is conducting a very inappropriate party founding and nomination process," adding, "In particular, I express deep regret that those who were judged unqualified in our party’s nomination process, or those who declared their withdrawal in advance before such a judgment, or those who were eliminated in the primaries, are included in the list of 20 preliminary candidates on their side."

Yoon said, "We think such movements are a challenge to our party’s system nomination and the nomination process that values morality," and added, "I believe those former members of our party who are moving to the Open Democratic Party are making a wrong judgment." When asked about the possibility of a merger with the Open Democratic Party, Yoon answered, "No."

Regarding the recent request by Democratic Party lawmaker Jung Eun-hye to be expelled in order to join the Together Citizens’ Party, Yoon said, "There are lawmakers who have expressed such intentions publicly and privately," and added, "There will be an opportunity to disclose who and how many."

On the possibility of unifying district candidates with the Justice Party and others in the future, Yoon said, "We are not considering that."

Regarding the Democratic Party’s district nominations finalized the day before, Yoon evaluated, "By overcoming the negative aspects of past nomination processes, our party has enabled system nominations, innovative nominations, and faction-free nominations," and emphasized, "What we want to stress is that factional disputes and factional nominations have disappeared through this nomination. We have overcome negative practices such as the leadership’s arbitrary actions to eliminate competitors, unfair nominations, and last-minute replacement of proportional representation lists through district seat rotations."

Yoon emphasized, "The biggest feature of this nomination is that it created predictable nominations through a system nomination," and added, "We succeeded in natural incumbent replacement through primaries in response to changing times and the demands of party members and the public."

Yoon explained, "Including those who decided not to run, nearly 30%, or 37 incumbent lawmakers, were replaced," and added, "If we include two who are effectively running as independents and thus not counted, the number could increase to 39."

Yoon said, "For the second time in our party’s history, we nominated candidates in all districts," and added, "Despite these efforts, 33 women and 20 youth candidates were nominated. The numbers are lower than expected, which is regrettable. I think we need to supplement this institutionally to broaden opportunities for youth, women, and new candidates with disabilities to advance."

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