'Hot Race for Gwangju City Party Chair Election Draws Strong Interest Within the Democratic Party'

'Max Faction' Innovation Committee Standing Representative Kang Wiwon vs 'Lee Jae-myung Bodyguard' Yang Bunam

Fierce Conflict Between Both Sides Over 'National Assembly Member Sending Support Texts to Local Council Members'

Interest in How 'Adjustment of Electorate Ratio' and 'Consensus Nomination by Local Council Members' Will Play Out

As the election campaign for the chairman of the Democratic Party's Gwangju Metropolitan City Party Committee enters its final stages, both sides are engaged in a fierce battle with no concessions. Words such as 'matador,' 'black propaganda,' and 'defamation,' which typically emerge when elections become heated, have begun to run rampant.

According to the Democratic Party on the 30th, the Gwangju City Party Committee chairman election will be conducted through ARS voting by 101,897 eligible party members in the Gwangju area from August 1 to 3 (reception on the 1st-2nd, transmission on the 3rd). On the 4th, an online vote by the national delegates of the Gwangju City Party Committee is scheduled.

Kang Wiwon, Standing Representative of the Democratic Party of Korea National Innovation Council (left in the photo), and Assemblyman Yang Bunam, candidates for the chairman election of the Democratic Party of Korea Gwangju Metropolitan City Party.

The candidates for the Gwangju City Party Committee chairman are Candidate No. 1 Kang Wiwon, Standing Representative of the DeMinju National Innovation Council, and Candidate No. 2 Yang Bunam, National Assembly member (Gwangju Seo-gu Eul).

With two days left until the vote, both sides are engaged in intense exchanges.

Kang Wiwon’s side: "National Assembly members are sending support texts for Candidate Yang Bunam through local councilors... They should not intervene"

Recently, local district and city councilors in Gwangju have been sending a barrage of text messages supporting Candidate Yang Bunam under their own names, according to Kang Wiwon’s camp.

In fact, dozens of reports indicate that city and district councilors have been visiting Yang’s campaign office one after another and sending 'text bomb' messages to eligible party members.

One message on this day added fuel to the controversy. Shin Sujeong, chairperson of the Gwangju City Council, sent a text including her title stating, "I actively support Candidate No. 2 Yang Bunam as the city party chairman."

Additionally, Kang Wiwon’s campaign headquarters filed a complaint with the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office against Mr. A and current district councilor Mr. B for allegedly spreading false information in a KakaoTalk group chat.

The campaign headquarters explained that Mr. A and Mr. B posted false claims in the group chat that Kang Wiwon was caught driving under the influence without a license on May 18 in the past, and that he was a 'sexual misconduct offender' and 'involved in a murder case.'

Kang’s campaign stated, "At this point, two years before the local elections, it is reality that basic and metropolitan councilors have no choice but to be cautious of the local committee chairperson who holds the nomination rights," adding, "We must create a fair political culture starting from Gwangju where one does not have to line up for national assembly members but for party members and citizens."

Yang Bunam’s side: "We have never forcibly mobilized people to send support texts... Stop the false agitation"

Yang Bunam’s camp rebutted the claims made by Kang Wiwon’s side regarding 'lining up local councilors for the camp' and 'meetings of eight regional committee secretaries.'

They stated that after the opening of the 22nd National Assembly, the eight regional secretaries met twice for lunch to promote harmony and communication, and that visitors to Yang’s campaign were voluntary.

They insist that they have never systematically lined up local councilors to mobilize people and demand an end to false agitation.

Recently, Assembly members Park Gyuntaek and Jeong Jinwook posted on their SNS, directly criticizing Kang Wiwon with the statement, "Can councilors who have only been elected for two months be considered vested interests?"

Yang Bunam’s campaign headquarters also stated, "Misleading that supporters of Candidate Yang Bunam sending support texts to their acquaintances is illegal is false information and agitation based on lies."

They also called for an end to actions that escalate the party’s internal election into overheating and falsely agitate party members to cause division.

'Stability of tradition vs. signal of reform innovation,' 'inside the assembly vs. outside,' 'a showdown between true allies'

Although the Democratic Party’s national convention, with phrases like 'Eodaemyeong' (Anyway, the leader is Lee Jae-myung) and 'Hwadaemyeong' (Definitely the leader is Lee Jae-myung), has not become a definite issue, the Gwangju City Party Committee chairman election attracted attention earlier.

This is because two figures known as 'pro-Lee' faced off. However, when eight Gwangju area National Assembly members announced at the National Assembly that they would unanimously endorse Assembly member Yang Bunam as the Gwangju City Party Committee chairman, the election predictably became overheated.

In the previous Gwangju City Party Committee chairman election, then-incumbent Assembly member Lee Byunghun and civil society candidate Choi Hoiyong, a rank-and-file party member, competed, but generally, local National Assembly members’ unanimous endorsements became the norm.

However, when the standing representative of the DeMinju National Innovation Council, who has grown the largest faction within the Democratic Party and enjoys strong pro-Lee support, announced his candidacy for the Gwangju City Party Committee chairman, the Assembly members’ announcement became a hot issue within the party.

Standing Representative Kang Wiwon argued that the customary atmosphere among National Assembly members leads to vested interests and that the very possession of nomination rights must be changed, emphasizing the word 'innovation.'

He proposed eliminating National Assembly members’ intervention in the nominations of basic and metropolitan councilors and ultimately returning nomination rights to party members and citizens.

As the controversy grew, local National Assembly members stated that their endorsement was not a unanimous nomination but a gathering of opinions.

Candidate Yang Bunam said, "Through party member-centered and regional-centered operation of the Gwangju City Party Committee, we will lead a landslide victory in the local elections and the reestablishment of the regime," adding, "We will operate the city party committee with innovation and integration through a collective management system of eight National Assembly members."

A local political source said, "This Gwangju City Party Committee chairman election is not simply a matter of 'inside the assembly vs. outside,' but depending on who becomes chairman, the standing of prospective candidates considering running in the local elections two years later will change," adding, "It is a showdown between Standing Representative Kang Wiwon of the DeMinju National Innovation Council, who enjoys overwhelming support from strong pro-Lee party members, and incumbent Assembly member Yang Bunam, known as Lee Jae-myung’s bodyguard, so interest is naturally higher."

He continued, "The adjustment of the reflection ratio between eligible party members’ and delegates’ votes and how the unanimous endorsement by local assembly members will affect the outcome are also points of interest," adding, "Since neither side can foresee even a step ahead, the psychological warfare is bound to continue."

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