East Meets West... Ruling and Opposition Parties 'Catch the Mountain Rabbit'

First Visit to Yeongnam Region After Lee Nak-yeon Assumes Leadership...Committed to Addressing Local Issues
Kim Jong-in Visits Honam Again After Five Days, Calling It His "Second Hometown" as a Prelude to By-Elections

[Asia Economy Reporters Wondara and Jeon Jinyoung] Lee Nak-yeon, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Kim Jong-in, emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, are putting all their efforts into targeting the "mountain rabbit" ahead of the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections. Lee is visiting Daegu and Busan, while Kim is visiting Jeonju and Gwangju, indicating a strategy to target regional strongholds.

On the morning of the 4th, Lee held an on-site supreme council meeting for Daegu and Gyeongbuk at Hotel Inter-Burgo EXCO in Daegu, promising to directly oversee regional issues such as the allocation of infectious disease specialized hospitals in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, expansion of residential supply in industrial complexes, preliminary feasibility studies for the Dalbit inland railway, and the Yeongilman Bridge. This is Lee's first visit to Daegu and Busan since assuming party leadership.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Lee also promised to introduce a 'Cooperative Legislator System.' He said, "We do not have members of the National Assembly in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, and the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (Bu-Ul-Gyeong) and Gangwon regions are also weak within the National Assembly," adding, "We will introduce a cooperative legislator system to assign legislators who will take responsibility for local projects, budgets, and difficulties and cooperate accordingly." He also mentioned considering increasing the proportion of local university graduates in public institutions in innovation cities from the current 30% to 50% to expand youth job opportunities, as well as raising the local talent recruitment rate among local government officials.

Kim visited Gwangju on the previous day to mark the 'Gwangju Student Anti-Japanese Movement Memorial Day.' It was only five days after his visit to Jeonju on the 29th of last month. During meetings with Gwangju city officials including Kim Jong-hyo, deputy mayor of Gwangju, and district mayors, Kim said, "Since there are no legislators or heads of organizations from our party, there is some regret that various efforts are not well communicated," adding, "I expect the 'Honam Accompanying Legislator Group' to consider this their second hometown and to make many efforts in budget support, policy development, and regional development." Regarding the ruling party's proposed law to punish distortion of the May 18 history, he expressed a positive stance, saying, "There will be great significance in creating that law itself." This visit to Gwangju is Kim's second since his 'kneeling apology' at the May 18 Democratic Cemetery in August.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

These moves by Lee and Kim are analyzed as strategic preparations for next year's Seoul and Busan by-elections. Although the Democratic Party secured the highest number of seats in the last general election, its seats in Busan were halved from six to three. This comes amid the adverse effect of former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don's sexual harassment scandal. At the first meeting of the National Integration Assembly on the 14th, Kim said, "Looking at the population composition ratio of Seoul, the largest group is people from the Honam region," adding, "We need to create an opportunity to resolve the grievances of the Honam people." The proportion of Honam-origin residents in Seoul is 14.8%, which is the highest after excluding Seoul natives (47.9%).

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