Kwon In-sook: "Democratic Party's Presidential Defeat Due to Overestimating Young Male Voters... Gender Strategy Missing"

"Conservative Shift Among Young Men in Their 20s Shows Low Likelihood of Supporting Democratic Party"
Calls for Measures to Eradicate Sexual Misconduct Within the Party and Strengthen Gender Equality Systems

Kwon In-sook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, viewed the cause of the recent presidential election defeat as the disappearance of gender strategy, among other factors.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] At a Democratic Party debate, claims were made that the "loss of gender equality values" and the "absence of a gender strategy" were the causes of the party's defeat in the last presidential election.

Democratic Party lawmaker Kwon In-sook stated at the "Democratic Party Reflection and Innovation - Reflections and Lessons from the Presidential and Local Elections" debate held at the National Assembly on the 2nd, "In the presidential election, 'Idaenam (men in their 20s)' were overestimated and 'Idaenyeo (women in their 20s)' were underestimated," adding, "In a presidential election where gender conflict was anticipated and intensified, the strategy for gender equality values and overcoming gender conflict was missing."

Lawmaker Kwon pointed out that during the last presidential election, candidate Lee Jae-myung posted on online communities frequently used by men in their 20s and 30s, such as 'FM Korea.' He questioned, "Was the contextless focus on Idaenam a rational strategy?" and criticized, "Since the 19th presidential election, Idaenam has become conservative, and no matter what attempts were made, the possibility of them supporting the Democratic Party was low."

Former Co-Chairperson of the Democratic Party Park Ji-hyun Photo by Yonhap News

He gave a meaningful evaluation to the strategy targeting women in their 20s and 30s, including the recruitment of former Emergency Committee Chair Park Ji-hyun. Lawmaker Kwon analyzed, "A majority of women in their 20s strategically voted for candidate Lee to check candidate Yoon Seok-youl and the People Power Party, who engaged in 'gender divide' during the last presidential election," adding, "Thanks to concentrated female votes, candidate Lee narrowly lost by 0.73 percentage points."

After the presidential election defeat, Kwon viewed the appointment of former Chair Park to the Emergency Committee Chair position as a "failed gender politics." He diagnosed, "It was a condition where the young female Emergency Committee Chair found it difficult to effectively perform her role," and "It created a structure that caused conflict between fandom-like female supporters and supporters in their 20s and 30s who have increased interest in gender equality."

Furthermore, Lawmaker Kwon urged, "The Democratic Party must prepare measures to eradicate gender violence and sexual misconduct incidents and strengthen the party's gender equality promotion system," and "Alternatives to the gender conflict among the younger generation must also be prepared."

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