Opposition, Conflict Over 'Im Tae-hoon'... Citizens' Assembly Demands Cutoff Withdrawal

Democratic United Party Excludes Im Tae-hoon from Nomination
Civic Assembly "Absolutely Unacceptable"

The United Political Citizens' Assembly (Citizens' Assembly) on the 14th opposed the Democratic United Party's Nomination Management Committee's policy of 'cutting off Im Tae-hoon' and demanded its withdrawal.

Park Seok-woon, co-chairman of the Citizens' Assembly, stated on the day, "The disqualification notice against candidate Im Tae-hoon is extremely unfair and we firmly oppose it," adding, "We will request the Democratic United Party to withdraw the disqualification decision against candidate Im."

The Citizens' Assembly is an organization with the right to recommend four proportional representation candidates for civil society in the opposition proportional alliance party, the Democratic United Party. Former Military Human Rights Center director Im Tae-hoon ranked second among men in the Citizens' Assembly proportional representation audition on the 12th and was selected as a final candidate, but the Democratic United Party's Nomination Committee notified him of exclusion from nomination on the afternoon of the 13th, citing reasons such as 'military service evasion.' Im filed an objection, but it was not accepted.

Im Tae-hoon, former director of the Military Human Rights Center [Photo by Yonhap News]

Park Seok-woon, co-chairman of the Citizens' Assembly, met with reporters immediately after the Citizens' Assembly National Candidate Recommendation Screening Committee meeting held at the Roh Moo-hyun Citizens' Center on the afternoon of the 14th and said, "Last night (the 13th), we urgently gathered opinions and sent a letter to the Democratic United Party expressing strong opposition, but Im's objection was not accepted," adding, "We plan to discuss joint response measures together with human rights organizations and civil society."

Co-chairman Park added, "Conscientious objection to military service is an objective fact and has been pardoned, so calling it military service evasion is inconsistent with the facts," and "The result of human rights actions is that our society has accepted alternative service at the public's level of understanding, but the religious community's opposition is a very outdated result that goes against the public's perspective." Earlier, Pastor So Kang-seok of Sae Eden Church posted on Facebook expressing concern about recommending former director Im as a candidate, and the religious community is known to oppose Im's candidacy.

Co-representative Yoon said in a phone interview with Asia Economy on the morning of the same day, "Former director Im was disqualified due to the 'military service evasion item,' and although there was an opinion that an exception should be applied because it was conscientious objection, it did not receive two-thirds approval according to the regulations."

The Citizens' Assembly plans to keep all options open, including leaving one recommended candidate position vacant, if the request to withdraw the disqualification decision against former director Im is not accepted.

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