Park Jumin "Lack of Opportunities for 40s in the Party... 586 Generation Dominates"

Park Ju-min, member of the Democratic Party of Korea./Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Seulgi Kim] Park Jumin, a member of the Democratic Party who ran for party leader but lost, placing third, said, "People in their 40s like me have relatively lacked the margin, space, and opportunities to be active."

In an interview on June 2 with MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focused View,' Park said, "There are multiple generations within the party. These generations do not mix but seem to be stacked like layers of sirutteok (steamed rice cake)."

He added, "At the top are those born in the 1950s, followed by the 586 generation (people in their 50s who attended university in the 1980s and were born in the 1960s), and then the next generation. In a way, the top two layers are quite thick. From the perspective of talent development, growth comes from experiencing various things. But that is lacking."

He continued, "Generations need to fuse so that multiple generations can make decisions together, and the younger generations below me should be given opportunities to work and mix."

Regarding criticism that pro-Moon Jae-in (Chinmun) party members have too much influence within the Democratic Party, Park said, "There is no division between pro-Moon and non-pro-Moon factions. That does not align with the party's internal situation. Considering that I ranked second in votes from party members, I believe a significant portion of party members desire reform."

He said, "Looking at the results, a considerable portion agreed with the message I conveyed."

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