Kim Ki-hyun "Moon Jae-in Should Explain Party Charter Amendment" vs Park Beom-gye "No Controversy During Park's Impeachment"

Kim Ki-hyun, People Power Party lawmaker (left), Park Beom-gye, Democratic Party lawmaker (right). / Photo by CBS capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Regarding the Democratic Party of Korea's push to amend the party constitution for nominating candidates in the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections, Kim Ki-hyun, a member of the People Power Party, argued that "the President should directly state his position and provide an explanation." On the other hand, Park Beom-gye, a Democratic Party lawmaker, countered, "Although former President Park Geun-hye was impeached and caused the presidential by-election, there was not a serious controversy at that time about why (the People Power Party) was fielding a (presidential) candidate."

In an interview with CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the 2nd, Rep. Kim said, "(The relevant party constitution) was heavily promoted and publicly declared as a major innovation when President Moon was the party leader, but it has never been implemented and is being changed as easily as flipping the palm," adding, "At the very least, President Moon should express some kind of position on this matter."

Rep. Kim continued, "Although political parties sometimes fail to keep promises, this case is a very serious breach of promise," and said, "In the last general election, they said they would not create satellite parties, but the Democratic Party reversed that. This kind of repeated breaking of promises is happening. How can political trust be maintained? The President needs to clarify this precisely."

In response, Rep. Park said, "If we look at it that way, we would have to bring up and attack all the cases on the People Power Party side that caused numerous by-elections in the past," and added, "When President Park Geun-hye was impeached and imprisoned, causing the presidential by-election, there was not such a serious controversy about why (the People Power Party) was fielding a candidate at that time."

Rep. Park further emphasized, "The upcoming (Seoul and Busan) by-elections and the presidential election are extremely critical and important elections, so we chose an appropriate position accordingly," and said, "It is right to confidently field candidates and be evaluated by the citizens."

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party announced that 86.64% of all party members voted in favor in a party-wide vote conducted to decide on nominating candidates for the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections next April and to amend the party constitution accordingly. Opposition votes accounted for 13.36%.

Chief Spokesperson Choi In-ho announced the voting results at the National Assembly communication office on the 2nd, saying, "The overwhelming approval rate of 86.6% expresses the will of all party members that candidates should be nominated in the by-elections," and added, "Once the party constitution amendment is completed, we will promptly begin full-scale election preparations, including forming the candidate verification committee and the election planning team."

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