Sim Sang-jung Halts All Activities... Justice Party Campaign Committee Resigns En Masse

"All Election Committee Members Including the Former Chairman Resign Together"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Sim Sang-jung, the Justice Party presidential candidate, has halted all schedules and entered a period of deep reflection to reorganize the election campaign committee. The Justice Party campaign committee has resolved that all key officials will resign en masse.

The Justice Party presidential candidate Sim Sang-jung decided to temporarily suspend all schedules, and on the 13th, the Justice Party campaign office meeting room at the National Assembly was empty. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On the 13th, Lee Dong-young, the chief spokesperson of the Justice Party campaign committee, stated, "Recognizing the seriousness of the current election situation, the campaign chairperson and committee members have agreed to resign collectively."

Candidate Sim informed a small number of people, including General Co-Chairperson Yeo Young-guk, of the schedule suspension the previous evening and has since turned off his phone and gone into seclusion.

Yeo Young-guk, the party leader, told reporters that morning, "This afternoon, we convened a closed joint meeting of the representative and parliamentary groups," adding, "We will discuss measures to share the candidate's concerns." Regarding the previous day's notice of schedule suspension from Candidate Sim, Yeo said, "We were planning to gather opinions on the second campaign committee formation and meet with the candidate, but he said he would enter a period of reflection yesterday, which was surprising," and added, "We have been unable to contact the candidate, which is frustrating."

When asked about prospects such as resignation or candidate unification, he said, "The candidate has said several times that this presidential run is his last duty," and added, "In that regard, I trust Candidate Sim." Jeong Ho-jin, the campaign committee spokesperson, also told reporters that morning, "There are parts that need to be reorganized (which is why he is reflecting)," and said, "It will be difficult to release a statement today."

The sudden announcement of schedule suspension by Candidate Sim appears to have been greatly influenced by stagnant approval ratings. Within the Justice Party campaign committee, when Candidate Sim proposed a ‘third zone alliance’ at the end of last year, it was expected that he would compete with Ahn Cheol-soo, the People’s Party candidate, for the ‘10%’ approval rating mark by the end of the year. At that time, the two candidates were battling for third place with approval ratings around 5%. However, while Ahn’s approval rating has recently risen significantly, Candidate Sim’s rating has stagnated, rendering the third zone proposal ineffective.

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