Jo Eung-cheon Criticizes "3No Party Convention"... Ruling Party Supreme Council Candidates Respond

Kim Jong-min "Wrong to talk like that leaving party members and candidates aside"
Shin Dong-geun "A typical conservative force frame"

Kim Jong-min, a candidate for the Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is delivering his policy speech at the joint speech meeting for the party leader and Supreme Council member candidates held at the Changwon Convention Center in Uichang-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongnam Province on the morning of the 1st. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] When Cho Eung-cheon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized the Democratic Party's August 29 leadership election as a "3-no (no)" event, some ruling party Supreme Council candidates responded with rebuttals.

Kim Jong-min, a member of the Democratic Party running for Supreme Council member, appeared on a radio broadcast on the 18th and said, "I think it is wrong to speak like that while leaving the party members and candidates who are struggling to hold the leadership election in difficult circumstances," adding, "I don't know if Cho has read the various announcements or claims I have made. You shouldn't talk like that."

He continued, "Because it is difficult to hold events, campaigning is also impossible," and said, "In such a situation, it is not easy to create issues or points of contention."

This is interpreted as pointing out that it is difficult to pay attention to the leadership election as the country continues to face difficult times such as the resurgence of COVID-19 and flood damage caused by heavy rain.

He added, "If I meet Cho, there are really many things I want to talk about for about 10 hours," and questioned, "But we can't meet, can we?"

Another Democratic Party Supreme Council candidate, Shin Dong-geun, also immediately rebutted Cho's remarks on the previous day (17th). In a post on his Facebook, Shin wrote, "I feel a great responsibility as a candidate for the criticism of the 3-no leadership election," but pointed out, "We should not allow the representative conservative forces' frame of 'only talking about people's livelihood but doing irrelevant things' to operate within us."

He added, "The three lease laws, real estate policies, job and unemployment measures, fiscal policies, COVID-19 quarantine, economic crisis ? all are people's livelihood policies," emphasizing, "It is good to discuss their effects and public reactions, but saying that we only shouted about people's livelihood does not correspond to reality."

Cho Eung-cheon, Democratic Party lawmaker / Photo by Yonhap News

Meanwhile, Cho wrote on his Facebook on the same day, criticizing the leadership election as "simply abnormal," calling it a "3-no leadership election with no interest, no debate, and no vision."

Cho pointed out, "As public interest diminishes, it becomes our own league, so there is no 'debate.' Without 'debate,' there is no differentiation, and there is no reason to compete on 'vision.' Without vision competition, interest falls in a vicious cycle."

He continued, "It is hard to find someone who says, 'If I become the leader, I will lead the Democratic Party like this, and if I become a Supreme Council member, the party will change like that,'" and criticized, "It seems no one mentioned establishing a horizontal relationship with the Blue House."

He added, "We are now in a crisis situation. We desperately need a situation awareness and policy direction that is not disconnected from the people," and claimed, "At some point, we started dividing into 'our side' and 'the other side,' judging with double standards. While verbally shouting about people's livelihood, the body was focused on past issues and prosecution."

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