Amid growing rupture within the Democratic Party of Korea over the nomination for mayor of Seoul, former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil officially announced his candidacy for mayor of Seoul on the 17th. Despite Song’s declaration of candidacy, the possibility of the election of former Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yeon from within the party continues, adding to the confusion surrounding the nomination of Seoul mayor candidates.
Former CEO Song held a press conference for his candidacy at Sangsang Madang in Hongdae, Mapo-gu, Seoul on the same day and said, “This local election is an election that checks the Yun Seok-yeol administration’s unilateral monopoly and puts safety devices on trains that run without brakes. I will surely repay the support of the 16.14 million people who sent me in the presidential election by winning the local election.” He was referring to the 16,147,738 votes that Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung received in the March 9 presidential election. Hongdae is also the place that candidate Lee Jae-myung chose as his last campaign location on the 8th of last month, the eve of the 3/9 presidential election. He also said, “Just as General Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s battleship led to victory with only 13 ships at the front in the Battle of Myeongnyang, the Democratic Party mayor of Seoul should not fight Mayor Oh Se-hun but fight at the forefront with the Yun Seok-yeol government and lead the nation to victory,” he said.
Democratic Party lawmaker Park Jumin, who also declared running for mayor of Seoul, held a meeting with young candidates running for local elections at the National Assembly on the same day and emphasized ‘generational change’. Rep. Park said, “I ran for mayor of Seoul to make this election a place for a change of era and generation,” he said.
Although official declarations of candidacy continue, confusion is deepening within the party as the need for former president Lee and others to appear continues to be raised. An official from the Democratic Party said, “Even among lawmakers Nak-yeon Lee, opinions on Lee’s candidacy for mayor of Seoul are divided.” On the same day, former CEO Song also said, “I don’t know why people are saying this because former CEO Lee is not running.” I hope that the energy will be gathered as one through the primary.”
Controversy continues over the results of local elections. Jeonbuk Governor Song Ha-jin, who was eliminated from the nomination review for the Jeonbuk branch, requested a retrial to the Party Nomination Management Committee on the 16th. The former governor’s side insisted, “The results of the nomination management committee, which declared that they would do system nominations, should be corrected by excluding candidates who received high-intermediate job performance evaluations and perfect fit evaluations.”
By Kwon Oh-hyuk, staff reporter hyuk@donga.com
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