Former Busan Superintendent Kim Seok-jun Declares Non-Participation in Progressive Candidate Unification... "Doubts About Fairness of Promotion Committee"

As the Busan Superintendent of Education by-election approaches, internal conflicts have arisen within the progressive camp that was attempting to unify candidates.

Kim Seok-jun, a preliminary candidate who served two terms, raised concerns about the representativeness and fairness of the 'Busan Democratic Progressive Education Superintendent Promotion Committee' and declared that he would not participate in the candidate unification process proposed by the committee.

On the 31st, Candidate Kim expressed regret, stating, "The Promotion Committee has not responded for over a week to public inquiries aimed at securing representativeness, transparency, fairness, and legality."

Earlier, Kim's camp pointed out that there was no way to verify whether the election committee members were Busan citizens, and since their occupations could not be confirmed, the primary election rules designed to ensure that teachers and public officials do not constitute more than half could not be upheld.

Kim argued that the collective participation of non-Busan citizens could seriously distort public opinion.

He criticized, "The Promotion Committee is aware of these issues but is proceeding with the original plan without disclosing such facts to the citizens."

He also claimed that anyone could form an arbitrary organization like the 'Promotion Committee,' exclude other candidates by imposing primary election rules that prevent their participation, and then endorse a specific candidate, a behavior that could repeatedly face severe penalties under election laws.

Candidate Kim described the current unification method of the Promotion Committee as akin to "forcing others to walk an illegal path together," and opposed it by saying, "I have no intention of participating in a reckless unification process that is neither democratic nor progressive, nor transparent or lawful."

He added, "It is disrespectful to the citizens of Busan for a by-election held due to election fraud to again provide an excuse for illegal and unlawful acts," and stated, "I oppose a very dangerous and wrong minus unification that has neither justification nor benefit."

Busan Metropolitan Office of Education.

원본보기 아이콘

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.