Democratic Party's Closer Kim Eun-kyung... What Are the Achievements of Past Innovation Committees?

'20% Exclusion of Lower Nominations' Kim Sang-gon Innovation Committee
Choi Jae-sung Innovation Committee Gained Attention but No Results
Kim Eun-kyung Innovation Committee, Key Issue is 'Nomination Rights'

The Democratic Party of Korea's 'Kim Eun-kyung Innovation Committee' has taken its first step. Ahead of next year's general election for the National Assembly, it has been tasked with managing Lee Jae-myung party leader's judicial risks and money envelope allegations, as well as Rep. Kim Nam-guk's cryptocurrency investment scandal, to lead the Democratic Party to victory in the general election. In the Democratic Party, innovation committees have appeared in times of critical crisis or before important elections. Each time, the innovation committees presented significant reform agendas, but their results varied greatly. What achievements have the Democratic Party's past innovation committees made?

2015 'Kim Sang-gon Innovation Committee'

Among the Democratic Party's past innovation committees, the 'Kim Sang-gon Innovation Committee' during the Saenuri Party era in 2015 is regarded as having produced the most notable achievements. At that time, then-party leader Moon Jae-in, who later became president, faced a crisis after suffering defeats in four National Assembly constituency by-elections on April 29, just two months after his election. As calls for his resignation grew, Moon formed an innovation committee chaired by Kim Sang-gon, former Gyeonggi Province Superintendent of Education, who was seen as less factional.

At the time, Moon said, "I will start by relinquishing my vested interests and approach this with the resolve of 'Yukchamgoldan (肉斬骨斷 - cutting one's own flesh and breaking the opponent's bones)," entrusting full authority to the innovation committee. Over 146 days and 11 announcements, the committee proposed bold measures such as excluding the bottom 20% of incumbent lawmakers from nominations and abolishing the Secretary-General system. After the committee was disbanded, the Saenuri Party transitioned to the Kim Jong-in emergency committee system and won the 2016 general election.

One of the biggest reasons the Kim Sang-gon Innovation Committee was able to exert influence was that all its reform proposals were incorporated into the party's system. This was possible because Moon guaranteed full authority. The 11 reform proposals were reflected in the party constitution and regulations after two central committee meetings. The party abolished the Secretary-General system and planned to abolish the Supreme Council after the next general election. They also established an elected public official evaluation committee to exclude the bottom 20% of incumbent lawmakers from nominations.

2017 'Choi Jae-sung Party Development Committee'

In 2017, during former leader Choo Mi-ae's tenure, the Party Development Committee was launched ahead of local elections with the ambition of reforming nominations. At that time, provincial party chairpersons and pro-Moon Jae-in lawmakers opposed the formation of the committee, fearing Choo's interference in nominations. The committee was chaired by former lawmaker Choi Jae-sung, who was considered a strategist for the Moon administration, and included close aides of Lee Jae-myung, then mayor of Seongnam, Park Won-soon, then mayor of Seoul, and Ahn Hee-jung, governor of Chungnam, attracting attention.

After four months of activity, the committee proposed various reforms including mandatory primaries for incumbent lawmakers' nominations, proportional representation candidate selection through a public review panel, introduction of party member autonomy councils, no nominations and election cost reimbursement if by-elections were caused by corruption, and penalties for those who reject primary results or leave the party. Particularly, mandating primaries for incumbents broke from the previous practice of uncontested nominations, which was almost revolutionary. However, this sparked backlash from incumbent lawmakers, and the provision allowing party members to voluntarily form autonomy councils also caused controversy as it threatened the party's organizational base centered on delegate-based local committees.

Choi Jae-sung's reform proposals did not reach the stage of amending the party constitution and regulations. After the committee was disbanded, Choi revealed that "the reform proposals were damaged during the party's approval process," with most items being partially modified or excluded in subsequent procedures.

2020 'Kim Jong-min The Innovation Committee'

In 2020, during former leader Lee Nak-yeon's tenure, the Democratic Party appointed then Supreme Council member Kim Jong-min as chairman to form the '2020 The Innovation Committee.' Lee, having achieved consecutive victories in the 2017 presidential election, 2018 local elections, and the April 2020 general election, stated the purpose was to become a "competent party." The committee, which promoted itself as a 'smart party and a 100-year party,' after four innovation meetings, announced reforms including ▲implementing a smart platform nationwide party, ▲establishing an online petition system for all party members, ▲creating city, county, and district party branches, ▲relaunching the Youth Democratic Party, ▲lowering the age limit for youth party members from 45 to 39, and ▲expanding women's party positions.

Although it did not have a significant impact during non-election periods, many of the reforms proposed by Kim Jong-min's committee were adopted by the Democratic Party. These include the online petition system, the Youth Democratic Party, and lowering the age limit for youth party members.

2022?2023 'Jang Kyung-tae Innovation Committee'

Jang Kyung-tae, Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 17th and making remarks related to the Kakao data center fire. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

During Song Young-gil's tenure as party leader, ahead of the 20th presidential and local elections, an innovation committee was formed with 30-something first-term lawmaker Jang Kyung-tae appointed as chairman. The committee was formed after Lee Jae-myung, then presidential candidate, criticized the party's decision-making structure as slow. Jang was seen as an appointment aimed at winning the votes of the 2030 generation who had turned away from the Democratic Party due to the 'Cho Kuk incident.'

The Jang Kyung-tae Innovation Committee proposed seven bills including ▲prohibiting National Assembly members from serving more than three consecutive terms in the same constituency, ▲limiting parliamentary immunity and non-arrest privileges, ▲preventing the formation of satellite parties, and ▲lowering the deposit for young candidates. However, the 'three-term consecutive limit' faced strong opposition from senior party lawmakers, and later Lee Jae-myung also expressed concerns about its constitutionality, so it did not materialize.

Jang was reappointed as innovation committee chairman in January this year, about a year before the general election. As discussions on electoral reform progressed in the National Assembly, the committee split into two subcommittees for political reform and party innovation. However, controversy arose when it was reported that the committee considered deleting 'Article 80 of the party constitution,' which stipulates suspending the duties of party officials indicted for corruption during the discussion process. Amid growing criticism, the committee's proposals were limited to suggesting measures such as reducing delegate influence in party convention voting to the Supreme Council.

Jang Kyung-tae, member of the Democratic Party of Korea./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Can the Kim Eun-kyung Innovation Committee Sail Smoothly?

Kim Eun-kyung, Chairperson of the Democratic Party of Korea Innovation Committee, is speaking at the first meeting held at the National Assembly on the 20th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Launched on the 20th, the Kim Eun-kyung Innovation Committee was formed to comprehensively reform the party amid consecutive morality controversies, including the party's 'party convention money envelope allegations' and Rep. Kim Nam-guk's cryptocurrency investment allegations, just before next year's general election. After much deliberation, the Democratic Party leadership appointed Kim Eun-kyung, a professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Law School, as chairman, along with five external members and two internal members as committee members.

So far, the committee has held its second meeting and decided to conduct an internal investigation into the money envelope allegations. It also demanded that all party lawmakers submit pledges to waive their parliamentary immunity and that the party adopt a unified stance in favor of approving any motions to arrest lawmakers in the future. The Supreme Council responded by respecting the committee's proposals and stating it would gather the consensus of lawmakers.

Although Lee declared he would delegate full authority, concerns about the committee's role remain, as nomination rights were not mentioned. With less than a year until the general election and the committee mainly composed of external members, there is a strong demand for reform proposals to be reflected in the nomination system. However, when asked about nomination rights, Chairman Kim gave an ambiguous answer, saying, "We are not trying to do anything specifically about nomination rules, but we will look into the parts necessary for overall reform and innovation, and if the public wants, we may consider it."

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