'Not Running' Itanhee: "Losing Uncoolly Is the Worst... Let's Win Coolly"

"Why regress politically by joining hands with Kukhim?"
"What meaning is there if you can't change the world even with 180 seats?"

Lee Tan-hee, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who opposed the return to the parallel proportional representation system and declared he would not run in next year's general election, said on the 15th, "If we make a mistake, we could lose in the worst and most ungraceful way," adding, "Keeping the promise of political reform to the public and giving hope to win the election is the path to becoming the ruling party that we so desperately desire."

This was a rebuttal to Lee Jae-myung, the party leader, who hinted at a return to the parallel system by saying, "What good is it to lose gracefully?"

On the same day, Lee appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said, "We can win the main battle of 253 constituencies and secure a sufficient victory in the next election. Losing ungracefully would truly be an unforgivable sin in history."

The day before, the Democratic Party held a closed-door meeting of lawmakers to discuss electoral reform but failed to reach a conclusion due to significant differences in opinion.

Lee criticized, "The main battle of the election is the constituencies. Among the 253 constituencies, 49 competitive districts are decided by the actively non-partisan voters and the 12% who always vote. If the election is lost because the balance is shaken by counting the seats lost or gained in the 47 proportional representation seats, who will take responsibility for that?"

Lee Tan-hee, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

As a compromise, a regional parallel proportional representation system is being discussed.

However, Lee called this a "penny wise, pound foolish" approach. He said, "It cannot prevent the modern structure of hate politics. Once a system is introduced where the two major parties combined win 290 seats anyway, the purpose and function of politics are lost," adding, "Issues of regional balance can be addressed in many ways even under a mixed-member proportional representation system, such as through coalition strategies."

He continued, "Kim Hak-ui, a bus driver who earned 800 won, and Hong Su-ji and Hwang Hyun-jung, who passed away in a semi-basement in Sillim-dong. I struggled hard in the 21st National Assembly to protect their lives, but looking back, there were no results despite my efforts," emphasizing, "If we say that even with a single-party majority of 180 seats we cannot change the world, we need to reflect on what that really means."

Lee said, "People's lives are very unstable right now. It is truly important for politics to regain its function and become a politics that protects people’s livelihoods and shields them from insecurity," adding, "I hope our Democratic Party will take the lead in restoring that function."

He went on, "The Democratic Party has many good policies such as restarting the national employment insurance roadmap, expanding housing safety nets, introducing a presidential runoff election system and a four-year single-term system for coalition politics, and establishing basic rights for citizens' life and safety," and questioned, "So why hide these and suddenly regress politically by returning to the parallel system hand in hand with the People Power Party?"

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