[6·3 Election] Kim Youngrok: "ARS Calls Disconnected When Jeonnam Was Entered"...Calls for Democratic Party Special Mayoral Primary Reinvestigation

Procedural Issues Raised: 2,308 ARS Responses Interrupted in Runoff Vote, Lapses in Party Member Notifications

“Opaque Primary Undermined Fairness... Central Committee Must Provide Responsible Explanation and Reform the System”

Kim Youngrok, Governor of Jeonnam Province, publicly called on the Democratic Party of Korea's central committee to conduct a responsible investigation and reform the primary election process, raising procedural issues such as the interruption of ARS (automatic response system) responses during the Jeonnam-Gwangju integrated special mayoral candidate primary.

At a press conference held on the morning of the 29th in the briefing room of the Gwangju City Council, Governor Kim stated, "I humbly accepted the primary result for the greater cause of a successful launch of the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City," but emphasized, "The Democratic Party must reform its undemocratic primary election system."

Jeonnam Governor Kim Youngrok is holding a press conference on the morning of the 29th at the briefing room of Gwangju City Council, urging the central party to reinvestigate and reform the system regarding procedural issues in the nomination process for the integrated special mayor candidate for Jeonnam and Gwangju. Photo by Song Bohyun

He specifically pointed to the interruption of ARS responses during the runoff vote as the core issue. Governor Kim explained, "On the first day of the runoff vote, April 12, there were 2,308 cases during the ARS polling process where calls were disconnected when residents entered Jeonnam as their registered address." He argued, "Given that the response rate was only around 5-7%, this constitutes a serious error that structurally excluded the will of more than 2,000 voters in the Jeonnam region."

He continued, "Despite it being a serious error due to a lack of care in the polling agency's design, the central committee proceeded with the primary after only one round of re-calls," adding, "This is a grave procedural flaw that could have affected the outcome of the primary."

Governor Kim also pointed out issues in the process of notifying party members eligible to vote. He stated, "Although it was announced that text notifications were sent to approximately 310,000 party members in Jeonnam and Gwangju, there were many cases where members did not receive them, and some who participated in the preliminary and main primaries were informed that they were not eligible for the runoff vote." He claimed, "This amounts to disenfranchisement and a serious violation of party members' sovereignty."

During the Q&A session, Governor Kim further stated, "As time passes since the election result was announced, I feel increasingly burdened," and added, "If errors in the polling process led to results different from the actual support of the citizens, this is a very serious problem." He continued, "As a candidate, I feel deeply sorry to the citizens, and the Democratic Party, as a democratic party, must listen responsibly to these concerns."

Governor Kim also said, "Democracy is not only about results but is completed through due process," urging the Democratic Party leadership and the central election management committee to reinvestigate the entire primary process and release relevant information.

Previously, in the Democratic Party of Korea’s Jeonnam-Gwangju integrated special mayoral candidate primary, which proceeded to a runoff vote, candidate Min Hyungbae defeated Governor Kim to become the final nominee.

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