"Revival of Jigu-dang" O Se-hoon also voices concerns... "It only strengthens the unipolar, imperial party leader"

"Jigudang, a Hotbed of Local Notables"

As discussions about the revival of district party organizations continue in the political sphere, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon voiced his opinion, saying, "District parties are not for the people but only serve to strengthen a one-man, imperial-style party leader."

On the 31st, Mayor Oh stated on his Facebook, "I want to clearly address the regression of reforms that the ruling and opposition parties had jointly achieved in the wrong direction," expressing his stance.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Mayor Oh said, "The original purpose of the (Oh Se-hoon Law) was to slim down the party structure, which was called a 'money-eating hippo,' into a parliamentary party form to drastically change the high-cost political structure," adding, "In the case of the United States, there is no party leader, and outside of election periods, there is no constituency activity in the parliamentary party structure."

Mayor Oh led political reform through the abolition of district parties following the 2002 illegal presidential election funding scandal known as the 'Cha-dtaegi' involving the Grand National Party, and passed the Oh Se-hoon Law (amendments to the Political Parties Act, Political Funds Act, and Public Official Election Act) in 2004. This law primarily aimed at the legal abolition of district parties.

He pointed out, "Compared to Korea, which has party branch committees, does the U.S. fail to gather public opinion?" and added, "On the contrary, there are many evaluations that it does better. The U.S. also had organizations similar to district parties called 'party machines' in the past, but they disappeared due to numerous corruption and abuses."

Mayor Oh also said, "In the past, district parties were hotbeds of local power brokers," explaining, "It was common for those who made large political donations to district party chairpersons to become local councilors, and they interfered in local interests. The core of the Oh Se-hoon Law reform was to cut off the political black food chain formed between local power brokers, district party chairpersons, and party leaders through elections and nomination rights."

Regarding the recent discussions on the revival of district parties by both ruling and opposition parties, Mayor Oh said, "My judgment is that there is an ambition to win the party leader election and lead the party in a unified manner."

Mayor Oh expressed concern, saying, "While creating district parties might help the party leader control the party, what benefit would that bring to the people?" He warned, "As we have witnessed in the Russian Communist Revolution, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and the Unified Progressive Party incident, it could lead to the most worrisome outcome where a small group with extreme ideas dominates the sensible majority."

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