Song Young-gil Tests Positive for COVID-19... Emergency for Democratic Party with Less Than a Month Until Presidential Election

Party Leader Halts All Schedules Amid Adversity
Key Contacts Raise Spread Concerns
Democratic Party "Discussing Measures to Fill the Gap"
Kim Hye-kyung's Excessive Protocol Controversy Continues
Opposition "Lee Must Declare Self-Out" Fierce Attack

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Ki-min Lee and Jun-yi Park] Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, tested positive for COVID-19, putting the party on high alert. With just over a month left until the presidential election, Song, who serves as the standing co-chairman of the election campaign committee, halted all his schedules after testing positive. Following the Lunar New Year holiday, the Democratic Party, which was seeking to rebound in election support ratings, faced another setback after the controversy over excessive protocol involving Kim Hye-kyung, wife of presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung. The People Power Party continued its offensive against Kim Hye-kyung.

On the 4th, the Democratic Party sent a text message to the press corps stating, "Leader Song has been notified that his PCR test result is positive," adding, "He will strictly follow the guidelines of the health authorities going forward." Song had suspected COVID-19 symptoms the previous day, took a self-diagnostic kit test, and upon receiving a positive result, canceled all his schedules, underwent a PCR test, and entered isolation. The day before, the Democratic Party had closed and disinfected the press office after consecutive positive cases among lawmakers Park Sung-jun and Jang Sung-chul. This contrasts with the People Power Party’s presidential campaign headquarters, which has not reported any positive cases yet due to daily disinfection, ventilation, and distribution of self-diagnostic kits.

With the ongoing COVID-19 cases among key figures and the issue surrounding candidate Lee Jae-myung’s spouse, the Democratic Party is anxiously concerned about the potential impact on the election dynamics just a month before the vote. A wave of testing is underway among those who had contact with Leader Song.

Song appeared on KBS radio the previous morning and attended a closed-door Supreme Council meeting held in the party leader’s office in the National Assembly main building. Although Song had not recently met with candidate Lee Jae-myung, other Supreme Council members who attended the meeting and party leadership are either undergoing or have undergone COVID-19 testing.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

There is heightened vigilance as additional positive cases could make it difficult for the leadership to campaign for the time being. Half of the campaign staff have started working from home to prevent further COVID-19 cases. A Democratic Party campaign official said, "We are discussing measures to cover Leader Song’s absence and to ensure normal operations."

The controversy over Kim Hye-kyung’s protocol continues to spread. Recently, Mr. A, a former Grade 7 public official at Gyeonggi Provincial Government, repeatedly claimed that from March to October last year, while working in the provincial government’s secretariat, he was instructed by Mr. Bae, a Grade 5 administrative officer in the General Affairs Division, to handle private protocol duties for candidate Lee’s family, including proxy prescriptions, food delivery, and discharge procedures for Lee’s son. In response to the controversy, Kim canceled her planned visit to Honam starting that day and both she and candidate Lee issued separate apologies. Democratic Party officials have responded by framing the issue as an individual misconduct by Mr. Bae, attempting to prevent the controversy from spreading to the candidate and to turn the mood around, but repeated allegations have prevented a breakthrough.

Some quarters are focusing on recorded conversations related to the so-called ‘card kkang’ scheme, where payments were split into 120,000 won increments, and allegations of proxy prescriptions. The opposition’s criticism is intensifying. The People Power Party criticized the Democratic Party’s audit into Kim’s alleged private use of Gyeonggi Province’s corporate card as a ‘self-audit.’

Kim Ki-hyun, floor leader of the People Power Party, said at a strategy meeting that "the revealed allegations alone warrant charges such as abuse of power, obstruction of rights, and embezzlement of public funds." He added, "Candidate Lee once said that even a single embezzlement of public funds during his tenure as mayor of Seongnam would lead to his removal, invoking the ‘Seongnam Kim Young-ran Act.’ Instead of glossing over this with a Gyeonggi Province audit show, he should apply strict principles to himself and declare a self-out."

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, also appeared on CBS radio, raising the level of attack by saying, "This should immediately transition to an investigation; it is not a matter that Gyeonggi Province, the subject of suspicion, can resolve through an internal audit."

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