Hong Jun-pyo "Even the President's close aides are abandoning the Seoul metropolitan area and moving to the provinces"

1996 15th General Election YS Victory Secret Mentioned
"Talent Shortage and Lack of Figures... How to Conduct the General Election"

Hong Jun-pyo, Mayor of Daegu Metropolitan City, urged on the 13th, "I am really worried these days seeing the party leadership acting irresponsibly with last-minute reckless nominations for next year's election," and called for "the prompt formation of an election countermeasure committee."

On the same day, Mayor Hong mentioned the precedent of the 15th general election in 1996 on his Facebook.

Mayor Hong explained, "Ahead of the April 1996 general election, YS (former President Kim Young-sam) had effectively formed an election planning team centered around Director Kim Hyun-chul two years prior," adding, "They thoroughly investigated every electoral district nationwide, selecting regionally tailored talents, which led to the conservative party winning in the metropolitan area for the first time since liberation, securing 153 seats and achieving political stability."

Hong Joon-pyo, Mayor of Daegu. [Photo by Yonhap News]

He continued, "At that time, even in Gunsan, a Honam region, the New Korea Party won one seat," and pointed out, "But now, with less than 10 months left until the general election, the metropolitan area, which accounts for half of the seats, is facing a talent shortage as even the remaining resources have moved to local government heads, and there is a lack of regional leaders to lead the election. I am worried about how they plan to conduct the upcoming election."

He also criticized the party leadership. Mayor Hong said, "Even people close to the president say they are abandoning the metropolitan area and moving to the provinces," and added, "Even in Seoul, candidates are only clamoring to run in Gangnam, not Gangbuk, so I am very concerned about what the party leadership is doing."

Mayor Hong stated, "We should compete with the big theme of the new government's future, but the leadership's daily tedious debates and arguments are nothing more than futile disputes trapped in factional logic, which is the current state of South Korea."

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