Democratic Party Gwangju Branch Sharp Criticism Over Former and Current Members' Declaration of Support for Yoon Seok-yeol

"Shows Politicians Who Left or Were Disciplined and Expelled in Last Presidential Election... Typical Opportunistic Politicians"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] On the 8th, 1,335 current and former members of the Democratic Party of Korea in the Gwangju area declared their support for Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, prompting the Democratic Party’s Gwangju Metropolitan City branch to sharply criticize the move.

On the 9th, the Democratic Party’s Gwangju branch issued a statement questioning the credibility of the declaration, pointing out that many of those involved were not current Democratic Party members but rather former members who had left the party or were expelled due to disciplinary actions in the previous presidential election, and that no list of names had been disclosed.

The branch stated, “Currently, there are 400,000 Democratic Party members among the 1.44 million citizens of Gwangju, with 100,000 paying party dues. It is ridiculous to boast as if something significant has happened with only 0.3% of the total Democratic Party members.”

It continued, “Among those who declared support are politicians who, after losing the Democratic Party primary for Dong-gu district mayor in the 7th local elections, left the party and ran unsuccessfully as city council candidates for the Bareunmirae Party. There are also individuals who switched party affiliations for personal gain or were expelled from the Democratic Party due to disciplinary actions. While it is regrettable that ‘current and former Democratic Party members’ who engage in opportunistic politics and have been expelled are leading this support declaration, it is even more ridiculous that the People Power Party cannot even provide a list of who these current and former Democratic Party members are.”

Meanwhile, the day before, current and former Democratic Party members in Gwangju held a press conference to declare their support for candidate Yoon Seok-yeol.

They emphasized, “Although we were once proud members of the Democratic Party, we have decided not to blindly choose the Democratic Party in this national crisis. Faulty groupthink is destroying the country, and we have a responsibility to protect this nation and its people through choices that transcend party lines and factions.”

They added, “We also hope that the Democratic Party will be reborn as a party that meets the expectations of the people by nominating a just candidate and abandoning behaviors that betray the party’s fundamental spirit.”

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