Park Ju-min, Challenging Party Leadership: "Nomination for Seoul and Busan Mayors Should Be Decided After Listening to Public Opinion"

Reversing Past Stance on 'No Nomination for Busan Mayor'
"It's Quite Difficult to Draw a Line Saying 'No' in Advance"
"Please Don't See It as Because of Running for Seoul Mayor"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Kang Nahum and Jeon Jinyoung] Park Jumin, a Supreme Council member who challenged the leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea, expressed the position that the party should effectively make nominations regarding the Seoul and Busan mayoral candidacies, stating, "(Regarding the Busan mayoral vacancy situation) The circumstances I mentioned at that time and the current situation are very different." Park is considered a potential candidate for the Seoul mayor within the party.

On the 21st, right after declaring his candidacy for party leader, Park met with reporters and said, "It might be said that I am conveniently flipping my words like turning over a hand, but I think many citizens will see that a different situation has occurred compared to before," adding, "We need to judge whether adhering to the party constitution and regulations is truly taking responsibility, or whether, as a public party, we should provide 15 million voters with the opportunity to choose and take responsibility by being subject to their choice."

Previously, Park had argued that the Democratic Party should not nominate a candidate for the next by-election when former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don stepped down due to sexual harassment allegations.

Park said, "The next leadership should listen to the public's opinions and make a careful decision," and added, "It has become quite difficult to draw a line in advance saying it is not possible."

Responding to reporters' suggestions that this was because he was considering running for Seoul mayor, he drew a clear line, saying, "I stated in my party leader candidacy declaration that I would put aside my prospects and goals. I hope people do not interpret this as me saying that because I will run for Seoul mayor, the party can nominate a candidate."

Regarding media reform, he pointed out, "It is not always easy to say the media is wrong, but it is problematic when the media conveys incorrect information to increase (portal article) view counts," and added, "I believe that under the foundation of media promotion, more accurate reporting by the media should be achieved."

On prosecution and judicial reform, Park said, "During the 20th National Assembly, there were special committees on prosecution reform and judicial reform, but they were strongly focused on responding to current issues," and added, "I think there is a need to create a special unit aimed at institutional improvements from a policy perspective and to promote institutional reforms."

Park expressed agreement with relocating public institutions to local areas. He said, "One method is to intensively nurture 10 regional hub universities nationwide and connect them as a network," adding, "I think a system is needed where students attending any of the 10 hub universities can receive the same diploma and the same level of education." He continued, "If various considerations for the relocated public institutions are added, infrastructure can be established in local areas, effectively dispersing the population."

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