Kim Du-kwan: "If the party is struggling, Jang-su must lead... Lee Jae-myung leadership should run in tough districts"

"People Power Party Leads Innovation... Democratic Party Responds Complacently"
"Support for Regime Judgment Theory Exists but Cannot Be Optimistic About General Election Victory"

On the 9th, Kim Du-kwan, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who requested the party leadership to run in difficult constituencies, said, "If the party is in trouble, the leadership should take the lead. You can't just tell the soldiers to go out. The generals must lead the way."

On the same day, Kim appeared on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kang Sisa' and said, "Having run in several elections myself, I know that a person who was chosen in one region moving to another region does not necessarily guarantee victory. Even the People Power Party hesitates a lot to come to the metropolitan area after serving multiple terms in Yeongnam," adding, "But because the situation is difficult now, the party leadership must be willing to run in tough constituencies first to persuade the multi-term lawmakers."

Kim evaluated that the Democratic Party is falling behind the People Power Party in the competition for innovation. He said, "The People Power Party launched the In Yo-han Innovation Committee and is ahead of our Democratic Party in innovation efforts by discussing running in difficult constituencies and the youth generation theory," and explained, "With only 5 to 6 months left until the election, I felt our party was responding too complacently, so I requested the party leader and supreme council members to run in tough constituencies."

Kim Du-kwan, a presidential primary candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending a TV debate hosted by YTN at the YTN Media Center in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on August 4, 2021, preparing for the debate.

He added, "It is true that the presidential judgment theory is receiving relatively more support than the regime stability theory, and the president's approval rating is low," but expressed concern, saying, "We cannot be optimistic about victory based on this."

He continued, "Looking at past general election cases, the results often did not differ significantly from party support," and explained, "According to recent Gallup polls, the two parties have similar support, with us slightly trailing, and many in the moderate group are withholding support for both parties."

Kim said, "I was surprised to hear baseless optimism recently," and added, "Our people mercilessly judge a particular party if it has excessive confidence or arrogance in the election."

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