Kim Eun-kyung Innovation Committee, Effectively Recommends 'Abolition of the Delegate System'... Urges 'Old Boys' to Resign (Comprehensive)

Party Leader Election "70% Party Members, 30% National Poll" Proposal
Innovation Committee Announces 3rd Reform Plan, Ends Activities 51 Days After Launch

The Innovation Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea decided to end its activities on the 10th after announcing the third innovation plan. It has been 51 days since its launch. The committee announced that it would exclude delegate voting in the party leader election and strengthen the penalty points for incumbent lawmakers with lower evaluations during candidate nominations.

Kim Eun-kyung, Chair of the Innovation Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea, is announcing the party's innovation plan at the National Assembly on the 10th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

On the same day, the Innovation Committee held a press conference at the National Assembly and stated, "We propose that the party leader and supreme council members, the highest decision-making bodies of the party, be elected by 70% one-person-one-vote from party members with voting rights and 30% public opinion polls."

Currently, the voting weight in the National Convention (party convention) that elects the party leadership is 40% party members with voting rights, 30% delegates, 25% opinion polls, and 5% general party members. However, considering that the Democratic Party has 1 million party members with voting rights and 16,000 delegates, there has been criticism that the value of delegate votes is excessively high. This innovation plan is expected to cause a stir as it essentially proposes abolishing the delegate system.

Innovation Committee member Seo Bok-kyung explained at the press conference, "The origin of the system was the need to pursue the Democratic Party's expansion through delegates in regions without a support base," adding, "Now, the number of party members has increased 100 times compared to then, the nationwide base has expanded, and the party is one of the major parties not only in Korea but worldwide, so there is no longer a need to maintain such a system (the current delegate system)."

When asked if this means the de facto abolition of the delegate system, Seo said, "The issue is separating the exercise of voting rights in the party convention from the daily activities of the delegate body; it is not that one survives and the other is discarded."

The Innovation Committee also proposed, "A stricter standard should be applied to the relative evaluation of elected officials with lower rankings," suggesting that the current rule of deducting 20% of primary election votes for the bottom 20% be changed to deduct 40% for the bottom 10%, 30% for 10-20%, and 20% for 20-30%. They also recommended increasing the deduction for party defectors or those who refuse primary results from the current 25% to 50%. Additionally, the innovation plan includes designating ultra-low birthrate, ultra-aging, and climate issues as special future agendas, composing 20% of all parliamentary candidates with figures representing future representation, and lifting the personnel limits on party secretariat staff.

Innovation Committee Chair Kim Eun-kyung said at the press conference, "Among those who have served multiple terms as lawmakers and held various parliamentary and party positions, those who decide to step down for the sake of the next generation should boldly come forward for the party's future." Regarding this, Seo was asked if former National Intelligence Service Director Park Ji-won and former lawmaker Chun Jung-bae are included among those who should not run again, and he replied, "Personally, I hope they will step down."

Along with this, the Innovation Committee announced six 'policy capacity enhancement measures.' The committee pointed out, "The party has failed to develop policy capacity at the party level and has not managed state affairs centered on the party after coming to power," adding, "Many citizens do not see the Democratic Party as an alternative despite the repeated failures of the Yoon Seok-yeol government because the party did not demonstrate competence when it had authority." The proposals include ▲appointing two nominated supreme council members as 'policy supreme council members,' ▲forming a 'shadow cabinet' with one 'responsible lawmaker' for each of the 18 government ministries, ▲reorganizing the policy committee, ▲lifting personnel limits on party secretariat staff, ▲strengthening the capabilities of the Democratic Research Institute as a think tank, and ▲holding annual public reports on policy (pledge) progress.

Most of the innovation plans announced that day require amendments to the party constitution and regulations, and their adoption will be intensively discussed at the party workshop scheduled for the 28th-29th.

The Innovation Committee decided to end its activities after announcing the third innovation plan on the same day. This is 51 days since the committee was launched on June 20. Chair Kim announced the end of activities after presenting the innovation plan, saying, "The Innovation Committee's activities will conclude today." She added, "As the Innovation Committee chair, I will conclude my role here," and apologized, "I sincerely apologize for any discomfort caused by my inadequate words during this time."

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