Democratic Party Leadership Candidates Make Final Push to Win Over Staff...SNS Campaigning Continues

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] Candidates for the Democratic Party of Korea's party leader are making a final push to win over their aides ahead of the party convention on the 29th. The first-ever 'untact party convention' is seeing active election campaigns utilizing social network services (SNS) such as YouTube and KakaoTalk.

On the 26th, Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Nak-yeon sent a text message to the party aides saying, "The National Assembly functions because of the aides. You are an important pillar of legislation," and added, "It is reassuring to have you who dedicate yourselves with passion." Lee appealed, "The Democratic Party stands with important tasks ahead. At such a decisive time, I am challenging myself to become the party leader. Now, I want to devote myself to the growth and development of the Democratic Party." He also shared an anecdote about personally calling the parents of his aides after the last general election to thank them for entrusting their precious children.

Former lawmaker Kim Boo-kyum also sent a text message to aides saying, "With warning signals coming from all directions, how has the party responded? Don’t you think change is necessary?" and "If so, please cast your vote for 'values' rather than the 'trend.' I ask for your support, aides." According to a camp official, Kim visited the National Assembly members' office building during breaks in his official schedule to appeal for support from aides.

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Joo-min proposed tailored pledges for aides. Park pledged to expand support for 'Minbohyeop,' the Democratic Party aides' council, and increase opportunities for educational training. Emphasizing that he is a young candidate, he said, "I will support aides' political advancement. I will introduce 'free primaries' for candidates in their 20s and 'half-price primaries' for candidates in their 30s."

The reason party leader candidates are focusing their efforts on aides is that most aides are Democratic Party members and many are delegates with significant influence at the party convention. A Democratic Party official explained, "While party members with voting rights are important, since delegate votes carry more weight, if you lose badly in delegate constituencies, even winning the party member vote does not guarantee victory."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

They are also putting full effort into online election campaigns. Lawmaker Lee is maintaining meetings with party members by using 'group KakaoTalk chat rooms.' Party members create group chats by region and invite Lee to discuss local issues. Former lawmaker Kim runs 'Kim Boo-kyum TV.' Besides policy pledges, he focuses on increasing intimacy with party members by using unique formats like 'hidden camera' and referring to himself as 'Boogyum hyung' (Brother Boogyum). Lawmaker Park held a 'solo debate' on YouTube, answering questions from party members and supporters for 100 minutes, and plans to do a 'video eating broadcast' (mukbang) that evening. He also conducted video chats under titles like 'Zoom-In to Residents' and 'Park Joo-min Misses You (Bogusipda).'

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