Son Hye-won's 'Kim Nam-guk Shindang'?..."Strategy to Rally Zealous Supporters" Criticism

Former lawmaker Son Hye-won revealed plans to either run as an independent candidate in Honam or establish a new proportional representation party to save Kim Nam-guk, who left the Democratic Party of Korea amid multi-billion won cryptocurrency allegations. Considering that Son led the creation of the satellite party 'Open Democratic Party,' which was dedicated to proportional representation in the last general election, the possibility of this plan materializing cannot be ruled out. However, political circles criticize it as a baseless "strategy to rally hardcore supporters."

Cheon Ha-ram, the People Power Party's Jeonnam Suncheon-gap district chairman, said on the 16th on KBS's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs,' "It's a strategy to rally hardcore supporters," adding, "But the public now sees through such strategies. I hope they stop."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

His remarks are nothing more than an attempt to rally the hardcore supporters backing Kim. Regarding Kim's claim on the YouTube show 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' that "the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's failures are being covered up by the coin issue," Cheon pointed out, "Kim Eo-jun appears on his YouTube channel to rally supporters, and even former lawmaker Son joins in, echoing the sentiment by calling themselves righteous people and saying they will create a proportional party to get Kim into the National Assembly. This is just another strategy to rally hardcore supporters."

Park Won-seok, former policy committee chairman of the Justice Party, also said on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' that "(The plan for a Honam 20-member proportional party) is Son's idea and not very meaningful in practical politics," adding, "Does Son have the resources to create a new party and get Kim into the National Assembly?" He further commented, "Ultimately, it is just a message aimed at so-called 'Gaeddal'?the hardcore supporters. If the Democratic Party is swayed by such things, there is no answer."

While some view his remarks favorably, the general atmosphere interprets them more as a 'shared plight' among those in similar situations rather than a concrete political plan. Former Blue House deputy spokesperson Lim Se-eun said on BBS's 'Jeon Young-shin's Morning Journal,' "Looking back, Son was accused of speculation in Mokpo, and the media covered it for over a month, just like Kim's case. At that time, Son voluntarily left the party and agreed to an investigation, but after several years, all charges were dropped, and there was no real real estate speculation." She added, "Seeing the continuous coverage of Kim's case for nearly two weeks reminds me of the past, so I think it might be a case of shared plight."

On the 14th, former lawmaker Son revealed on her YouTube channel 'Son Hye-won TV' her plan to either run as an independent candidate in Honam or establish a new party. She said, "Let's create another party, a proportional party, and gather the strength to secure at least 20 proportional representatives." Although the plan lacks concrete details, considering that she led the creation of the Open Democratic Party, a satellite party dedicated to proportional representation in the last general election, if realized, it could emerge as a political variable one year ahead of the general election.

However, the new proportional representation party that Son plans to establish is likely to face criticism as a 'satellite party,' a notorious problem in the 21st general election. Both ruling and opposition parties agree on the need to prevent satellite parties in next year's general election. Speaker Kim Jin-pyo criticized in a media interview, "If another satellite party emerges, the public will demand the dissolution of the National Assembly," and President Yoon Seok-yeol recently raised the satellite party issue during a dinner with ruling party leaders. Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung also pledged to enact a law preventing satellite parties as part of his presidential campaign promises.

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