Lee Jae-myung: "The Democratic Party Must Reflect and Innovate According to the Will of the People Who Chose Me"

"Unable to Meet the People's Aspirations... Will Establish an Agile Response System"

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, answered questions from reporters on the 21st, two days before the 11th anniversary of the Yeonpyeong Island shelling, after paying respects at the Yeonpyeong Island shelling war dead cemetery in the National Daejeon Cemetery, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, explained his statement "I will create Lee Jae-myung's Democratic Party" by saying, "It means that the Democratic Party must also reflect and innovate according to the will of the people and party members who chose Lee Jae-myung as their presidential candidate."

On the morning of the 21st, after visiting the National Daejeon National Cemetery and paying respects, Lee told reporters, "The core is ultimately the people's desire for change and innovation. Some misunderstand it as a matter of party leadership, but that is not true," he said.

This was an explanation regarding his remark the previous day in Nonsan, Chungnam, where he said, "I will create Lee Jae-myung's Democratic Party, not the Democratic Party of Lee Jae-myung."

Regarding the reorganization of the party's election campaign committee, Lee said, "The will of the people and party members who chose Lee Jae-myung as the Democratic Party candidate lies in change and innovation. However, even I, Lee Jae-myung, have come to reflect that I have not met the people's desire for change and innovation." He added, "I will create an agile, light, and nimble response system that can quickly reflect the people's will and respond to their expectations."

About the so-called 'special task force' and the reorganization of the campaign committee, he said, "There is still an official campaign committee and the party's position, so apart from requesting change and innovation from the party, I will wait for the results." He continued, "Regarding the special task force, I never used that term, but there are criticisms that the party's campaign committee is too heavy and slow."

When asked about the full authority over the campaign committee's reorganization, he replied, "I haven't heard about that yet, so I will check." The day before, Song Young-gil, the leader of the Democratic Party, said in a YouTube interview, "We formed a one-team campaign committee, but it lacks mobility. We must ensure that the candidate's will is carried out," and added, "We will consider delegating full authority over the reorganization to the candidate."

Regarding reports of Song's resignation as the standing campaign committee chairman, Lee called it a 'false report' and said, "There will be an emergency party meeting today, so I will speak after the opinions are gathered there."

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