Democratic Party Gwangju Branch's 'People's Perspective'

The Democratic Party of Korea’s Gwangju City Party Public Election Candidate Recommendation Management Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) conducted a qualification review of 60 candidates subject to detailed screening on the 5th, disqualifying 12 of them, which has sparked widespread controversy.

While election campaigns are inevitably turbulent with shifting alliances and fierce competition, the fairness of the Gwangju City Party itself is being shaken, making the citizens’ calls for sincere self-reflection and remorse from the Democratic Party following their presidential election defeat seem hollow.

Initially, the Gwangju City Party announced that it had established disqualification criteria for preliminary candidates based on the central party’s standards, applying strict rules regarding drunk driving: candidates caught driving under the influence twice within 10 years, three times within 15 years, or any offense after the enactment of the Yoon Chang-ho Act on December 18, 2018, would be disqualified.

However, within a few days, the policy was changed to disqualify anyone caught driving under the influence three or more times regardless of the time period, citing the “people’s standards” as the reason.

As a result, a prominent incumbent district mayor seeking re-election was excluded from the primary due to a drunk driving offense committed 20 years ago.

The unquantifiable “people’s standards” presumably refer to the general common sense of the public, but it is unclear who establishes or measures these standards, and they are often interpreted in a self-serving or ambiguous manner depending on the situation. This makes them dangerous.

There are rumors circulating that the Gwangju City Party has refused to disclose the names of the Committee members citing fairness. Additionally, it was revealed that in some districts even the list of party members with voting rights was leaked. One wonders if these actions align with the so-called people’s standards they claim to uphold.

So much so that the Gwangju branch of the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice issued a statement criticizing, “The Democratic Party of Korea’s Gwangju City Party is repeating past practices such as non-disclosure of Committee member lists, inconsistent qualification reviews, opaque candidate selection methods, persistent factionalism, and favoritism.”

After Assemblyman Song Gi-seok was ousted in 2018 for violating the Public Official Election Act, the by-election for Gwangju Seo-gu Gap was held, where current Democratic Party Gwangju City Party Chairman Assemblyman Song Gap-seok was eventually elected after many twists and turns.

At that time, the Democratic Party tried to strategically nominate former Assemblywoman Park Hye-ja for Seo-gu Gap. What held back Assemblyman Song was his one-time party resignation and two prior criminal records. However, due to local opposition from those who supported him and the efforts of Bae Eun-sim, mother of martyr Lee Han-yeol, he ultimately secured the nomination and entered the National Assembly.

If the Gwangju City Party insists on “people’s standards” that exceed the central party’s criteria, protecting their own people while excluding those out of favor, they should remember that in the upcoming 22nd general election, a much stricter “people’s standards” will boomerang back on them.

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