Why Did Kim Jaewon Participate in the Opposition's 'Democratic Party Presidential Primary'?

Kim Jae-won Announces Participation in Democratic Party Presidential Primary via SNS
Strongly Opposes Concerns Over Backward Voting Raised by Democratic Party
Possibility of Preemptive Response to Controversy Over Intra-Party Presidential Primary Rule Revision

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Kim Jae-won, Supreme Council Member of the People Power Party, revealed that he participated in the first round of the Democratic Party's presidential candidate primary national electorate recruitment, sparking controversy. After announcing his participation on social networking services (SNS), Kim told those around him, "Please lend your strength to regime change," openly showing his intention to create an election dynamics favorable to the People Power Party's election. Did Kim, the Supreme Council Member, make an unprecedented attempt to publicly interfere in another party's election?

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 12th, at the People Power Party Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly, Kim said, "(Regarding participation in the electorate) what puzzles me is that 3 to 4 presidential candidates sent text messages, university professors sent messages, and local Democratic Party members also sent texts related to the presidential candidate national electorate. In my opinion, I applied to join the electorate to participate in the candidate primary with sound common sense," and raised his voice, "If this is some kind of illegal act, I ask Democratic Party officials to inform me."

Could Kim have not anticipated the ruling party's backlash? Kim, known as a strategist who has served as the ruling party's floor leader, budget committee chairman, and Blue House political secretary, surely could not have failed to foresee the ruling party's opposition. Considering that politicians typically send primary participation messages like spam through their contact lists, there is no particular reason for Democratic presidential candidates to think that Kim specifically asked them to participate in the primary electorate just because messages were sent.

One possible interpretation is that he tried to help select a weaker candidate in the Democratic Party to create a scenario where opposition candidates like those from the People Power Party could win. He stated that the Democratic Party and its officials encouraged participation in the national electorate through text messages, to which he responded. However, he also expressed his intention to vote with a focus on 'regime change.'

In fact, regarding Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, who ranks first and second in presidential-related opinion polls, he said, "I don't feel inclined toward him," while expressing that his "heart goes to" former Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae. This indirectly revealed that former Minister Choo is an easier opponent for the opposition.

The ruling party has strongly opposed Kim's series of SNS posts. But is it likely that Kim merely engaged in this provocation to check the ruling party's election? That too is questionable.

What deserves attention is that at the last party convention, Kim raised the issue of party members, saying he would "set the party's center straight."

Before the party convention, in an interview with this paper, he said, "Party members are actually thoughtful democratic citizens who have undergone much training and political education, but they are being slandered as an extremist fanatic group obsessed with a particular ideology, and excluding party members is being treated as party reform," and emphasized, "Policies should be decided reflecting the will of party members, and the party's personnel composition should be formed by the collective will of party members." In other words, he stated that reflecting the voices of party members significantly in the decision-making process within the party is his conviction about party politics.

From this perspective, Kim's series of moves can also be seen as an attempt to check voices inside and outside the party calling for an increased weight of opinion polls. Currently, the People Power Party decides its presidential candidate with 50% opinion polls and 50% party members. However, since major opposition candidates are outside the party, there are calls to increase the proportion of opinion polls. Perhaps Kim demonstrated a real example that just as the Democratic Party's primary electorate can be disturbed by reverse voting, opinion polls can also face a situation where Democratic Party supporters intentionally back the weakest candidate within the People Power Party. He is asking the People Power Party leadership and members if they are willing to accept a presidential primary disrupted in this way.

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