"Facing 20 Years of Progressive Politics Crisis, Sim Sang-jung's Leadership Exhausted"… Sim's Election Failure Reflection Letter

"Give Me the Share of Responsibility Instead of Proportional Representatives"
Pointing Out Causes of Progressive Party Failures

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Shim Sang-jung, a lawmaker of the Justice Party, wrote a reflection letter on the election defeat, saying, "Please attribute the main share of responsibility to me." He stated that "the experiment of the first generation of progressive parties has ended," pointing out issues such as the lack of a ruling strategy within the party and discrepancies in perception, and proposed alternatives.

On the 12th, Shim issued a statement on the Justice Party's homepage, saying, "If we are to assign responsibility, the leaders who have led this party so far should bear it first. Among them, my responsibility is the heaviest."

He said, "Han Seok-ho, the emergency committee chairman, requested the participation of lawmakers in evaluating the Justice Party's 10 years," adding, "I have served twice as the party leader and twice as the presidential candidate of the Justice Party. I am the individual actor who has had the greatest influence on the Justice Party's current state, and thus bear the heaviest responsibility."

He continued, "For me, the past 20 years can be said to have been a time of struggling to find a path for the possibility of progressive parties coming to power," but "we must first acknowledge that the current crisis is clearly different from past cases."

Shim expressed regret over the Cho Kuk incident, saying, "The misjudgment during the Cho Kuk incident left a significant wound on the morality of progressive politics," and "I have apologized repeatedly before, but the decision made at that time regarding the Cho Kuk incident was a clear political error."

Regarding the diagnosis of the Justice Party's crisis, he pointed out, "The most painful criticism is that the support base has become hollowed out and the vision and banner that had been upheld have faded," emphasizing, "This is not just a problem of losing two major elections, but that 20 years of progressive politics is facing an existential crisis."

Shim cited the focus solely on 'elections' as a factor that triggered the crisis. He said, "Focusing only on the upcoming elections pushed efforts for self-strengthening to the back burner, which deepened today's crisis," and added, "To overcome the Justice Party's crisis, a long-term perspective is needed to steadily rebuild the eroded political and organizational foundations."

He also pointed out the lack of a ruling strategy and discrepancies in perception within the party. Shim said, "Differences in positions that contain large-scale organizational fractures should no longer be neglected," and "Conflicts surrounding the relationship with the Democratic Party largely stem from the party's long-standing strategic ambiguity, so it is necessary to unify the will as much as possible through open discussions that clarify the party's vision and strategy."

Along with this, he said, "The forces that have led the party so far are outdated, and Shim Sang-jung's leadership has been exhausted," and "We must build a firm agenda strategy that pushes forward around the core agenda to realize our party's vision."

Shim dismissed the demand for a 'mass resignation of proportional representatives' within the party, saying, "The responsibility for the party's existential crisis, which has accumulated over a long time, cannot be placed on proportional representatives who have been active for just over two years."

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