People Power Party Continues Full-Scale Offensive Against Democratic Party... Kim Jong-in's First Trip to Honam in Five Days

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending the party strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 3rd and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy reporters Lee Ji-eun and Lim Chun-han] As the People Power Party continues its "all-out offensive" against the Democratic Party of Korea's plan to recommend candidates for the by-elections, Emergency Committee Chairman Kim Jong-in chose to visit Honam after five days. This is because he sees winning the hearts of Honam voters as essential ahead of the by-elections. Former Liberty Korea Party leader Hong Joon-pyo criticized Kim's visit to Honam as a "last-minute effort."

On the 3rd, at a floor leaders' meeting held at the National Assembly, Floor Leader Joo Ho-young sharply criticized the Democratic Party for changing party rules to recommend candidates for the by-elections, saying, "President Moon Jae-in and the Democratic Party promised, but if circumstances change, they can just hold a party-wide vote to change it, which seems very convenient and good." He raised his voice, adding, "The term 'party-wide vote' means gathering the will of all party members, but the Democratic Party's party-wide vote means reversing the previous statement, so I think it should be addressed beforehand."

He also pointed out that the vote was invalid. Floor Leader Joo said, "The turnout for the party-wide vote was only 26.35%, so it did not meet the requirements," and criticized, "Even though the vote results should be discarded, they simply changed the narrative to say it was just to 'gauge public opinion.'" The Democratic Party's rules stipulate that "a party-wide vote is confirmed by a turnout of at least one-third of all party members with voting rights and a majority approval of valid votes."

People Power Party lawmaker Heo Eun-ah also appeared on YTN Radio's "Hwang Bo-seon's Start of the New Morning" that morning, criticizing, "The Democratic Party's amendment of party rules is a deliberate outrage against Korean politics, democracy, and the people, which is sociopathic," and pointed out, "The Democratic Party must first fulfill the human duty of a sincere apology to the victims of sexual violence committed by the powerful figures it produced."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As the People Power Party heats up its criticism of the Democratic Party ahead of the by-elections, Chairman Kim visited Honam again after five days. Kim attended the "91st Student Independence Movement Commemoration Ceremony" held at the Gwangju Student Independence Movement Memorial Tower together with Honam members of parliament who consider Honam their second constituency. He then held policy consultation meetings with metropolitan and local government heads at Gwangju City Hall and Jeonnam Provincial Office, and exchanged economic opinions with local small and medium-sized business owners at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center.

His focus on Honam is a move with the Seoul mayoral by-election in mind. Since Honam voters make up 15% of Seoul's population, the strategy is based on the premise that winning their support is essential to winning the election. Kim previously stated, "Looking at the population composition of Seoul, people from the Honam region make up the largest proportion," and added, "We need to resolve the grievances of the Honam people." He also appointed former lawmaker Jeong Yang-seok, who is from Honam, as secretary-general responsible for party affairs.

However, the backlash from the party's stronghold in Daegu and Gyeongbuk (TK) is considerable. Former lawmaker Hong criticized on Facebook that morning, "Yesterday, in TK, our party's largest support region, an unprecedented situation occurred where the Democratic Party led with 34% and our party had 30%, yet Chairman Kim leisurely went to Honam, where there is no by-election, to beg for votes," and sharply said, "Do you think Seoul's Honam residents will immediately return to our party in the by-election just because of last-minute efforts in Honam?"

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