Democratic First-Term Lawmakers Demand Emergency Party Meeting: "No Sacred Cows in Election Defeat Assessment"

Demincho Urgently Demands Emergency Party Meeting with Leadership
"Must Gather Even Today"

Go Young-in, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] ‘Deomincho,’ a group of first-term lawmakers affiliated with the Democratic Party of Korea, has urged the party leadership to convene an emergency caucus meeting. They also stated that discussions should be held regarding the formation of a transitional leadership team to lead the party until the party convention.

In an ‘Emergency Press Statement’ on the afternoon of the 2nd, Deomincho lawmakers said, “We accept the public sentiment revealed through the recent local election defeat and apologize to the citizens and party members who supported us,” adding, “The Democratic Party is facing an existential crisis after losing three consecutive elections. In this crisis, we face an urgent task to revive the party.”

Ko Young-in, the operating committee chair of Deomincho, emphasized, “For this, the most urgent matter is a comprehensive evaluation of the presidential and local election results as well as the Democratic Party’s performance over the past five years. We cannot afford to delay even for a moment,” and added, “Through such an evaluation, we must diagnose the current situation in a multidimensional way and clearly define the future direction of our Democratic Party.”

He continued, “This evaluation must be conducted through a public discourse process involving broad participation by the majority. It should not be a process where a few discuss behind closed doors, but a method where lawmakers, party members, supporters, and the general public who love the Democratic Party can all participate together,” stressing, “Even if it takes some time, we must gather everyone’s wisdom.”

Ko said, “To this end, we demand that the leadership immediately convene a caucus meeting. We must meet even today. We should start with the first caucus meeting and expand discussions by involving various stakeholders,” and emphasized, “The issue of forming a transitional leadership team to lead the party until the August party convention must also be decided through broad opinion gathering. We must not repeat past mistakes where a few made decisions through opaque processes and forced the majority to ratify them.”

The Deomincho press statement included the names of lawmakers Kwon In-sook, Ko Young-in, Min Byung-duk, Yang Yi-won-young, Oh Ki-hyung, Lee Soo-jin (proportional representation), Lee Yong-woo, and Lee Tan-hee. The Democratic Party’s Emergency Response Committee resigned en masse from the party leadership on the morning of the same day, taking responsibility for the election defeat.

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