Flood Damage, COVID-19, and Lee Nak-yeon Self-Quarantine... Series of Setbacks for the Democratic Party's National Convention

Lee's Participation in the 29th Party Convention Uncertain
Today's MBC TV Debate Canceled
Joint Speech on the 22nd to Be Broadcast Live
Concerns Raised Over "Convention Postponement"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea's August 29th party convention is facing a series of setbacks. Following a significant scale reduction due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), there is now a growing possibility that a candidate for party leader may not attend. Earlier, the Democratic Party decided to switch the convention to a non-face-to-face format and broadcast it online.

Lee Nak-yeon, a lawmaker running for party leader, is in a situation where his participation in the convention on the 29th is uncertain. Although he tested negative for COVID-19 on the 19th, he will enter self-quarantine until the 31st according to health authorities' guidelines. He was tested after being classified as a close contact of a confirmed case on the 17th.

With Lee entering self-quarantine, future schedules such as the candidates' TV debate and joint speech meetings have also been disrupted. Lee was scheduled to appear on MBC on the afternoon of the 20th along with former lawmaker Kim Boo-kyum and lawmaker Park Joo-min for a party leader candidates' debate. Afterwards, there was a joint speech meeting planned for the metropolitan area on the 22nd, raising concerns such as "Shouldn't the party convention be postponed?" Since Lee is unable to attend external events, other candidates are also expected to exercise restraint. Kim's campaign issued a statement that afternoon, saying, "Since there is a major disruption in the party leader election, we request the National Convention Preparatory Committee (Jeonjunwi) and the Election Commission to suspend the election schedule."

Amid difficulties in attracting attention due to floods and COVID-19, the Democratic Party Central Election Commission held a meeting that morning to discuss countermeasures. The Election Commission decided to proceed with the party convention using methods such as the video chat platform 'Zoom.' After the meeting, Min Hong-chul, head of the Central Election Commission, held a briefing and said, "The MBC 100-minute debate scheduled for this afternoon has been canceled with the understanding of the two party leader candidates. However, the nationwide KBS debate scheduled for the 27th will be discussed with the broadcaster to explore various methods such as video conferencing."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Min added, "The joint speech meeting scheduled for the metropolitan area on the 22nd will be conducted via live streaming, but the speech format will be decided through agreement among the candidates. To maximize candidates' campaigning opportunities, we plan to additionally organize a video debate through the Democratic Party's YouTube channel 'Sseum TV.'" When asked by reporters if there is a possibility of changing the date of the party convention, he replied, "That is a matter for the top leadership to decide," adding, "The public sentiment related to COVID-19 will be sufficiently reflected as the ruling party in deciding the campaign methods."

Earlier, considering the rapid increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases, the Democratic Party's National Convention Preparatory Committee changed the venue of the party convention from the originally planned Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Arena to the Yeouido party headquarters. This was because indoor events with more than 50 people are basically prohibited under social distancing level 2. The number of attendees was also drastically reduced, allowing only party leader and Supreme Council member candidates, the convention chair and vice-chair, a small number of party officials assisting the event, and members of the press corps to attend.

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