Choi Jae-sung: "Assassin nomination in the anti-Myeong faction district? ... It would be foolish to lose to a pro-Myeong rookie in the primary"

Choi Jae-sung, Former Blue House Senior Secretary for Political Affairs, YTN Radio Interview
"General Composition of the General Election Planning Team"

Former Blue House Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Choi Jae-sung evaluated the Democratic Party of Korea's general election planning team appointments as a "typical composition."

On the 2nd, Choi appeared on YTN Radio's 'News King Park Ji-hoon' and said, "The committee composition mainly centered on incumbent lawmakers is mostly ex officio. That's how it is when forming a general election planning team," adding, "The Secretary-General is the head, followed by the Policy Committee Chair, the heads of the Democratic Policy Research Institute and the Democratic Research Institute, and the Strategy Committee Chair must be included."

Choi Jae-sung, former Senior Secretary for Political Affairs at the Blue House. Photo by Yonhap News

He continued, "It is difficult to assign significant meaning to the placement of non-incumbents, youth, and women."

Choi explained, "Although the members are said to be all pro-Myeong, that's not necessarily the case," and added, "For example, Strategy Committee Chair Han Byung-do is hard to categorize strictly as pro-Myeong."

Regarding concerns from the anti-Myeong faction about a 'nomination massacre' in the general election planning team appointments, he criticized the claim as "strange." Choi said, "A nomination massacre means complete exclusion," and "In the preliminary screening, completely eliminating candidates is what that means, but the Democratic Party does not do that."

He added, "In the past, there were cases where candidates were unofficially encouraged not to run, or such recommendations were made, saying they lacked competitiveness or it would be difficult," and "But now, as long as basic qualifications are not lost, primaries are held, so the term 'massacre' does not conceptually fit."

Regarding concerns about 'assassin nominations,' where pro-Myeong non-incumbents advance in anti-Myeong constituencies, he said, "A real assassin nomination was when Kim Eun-hye, then spokesperson, was sent to challenge Yoo Seung-min, the Gyeonggi Province governor candidate," adding, "She had name recognition and political weight, and with the power right after the president's inauguration, she was pushed through?that is an assassin nomination."

Choi pointed out, "(The pro-Myeong non-incumbents challenging anti-Myeong incumbent lawmakers' constituencies) are political newcomers who have been in politics for only a few years," and said, "So unless the anti-Myeong incumbent lawmakers say 'Give me a sole nomination,' they cannot talk about assassin nominations." He added, "In most constituencies, if a primary is held, the anti-Myeong incumbents are actually advantaged," and "If they lose to a pro-Myeong newcomer in the primary, that would be foolish."

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