[Exclusive] The Owner of the 'Proportional Democracy Party' Office Is a Junior of Former Korean Party Lawmaker

[Asia Economy Reporters Park Cheol-eung and Jeon Jin-young] It has been confirmed that the owner of the office of the Proportional Democratic Party Preparatory Committee (Changjunwi), which sparked controversy over 'albakgi' tactics, is an acquaintance of Assemblyman A of the United Future Party (formerly Liberty Korea Party), who is a junior from middle school, drawing attention. The Proportional Democratic Party, unrelated to the Democratic Party of Korea, has remained shrouded in mystery until now.

According to Asia Economy's investigation on the 20th, the office registered with the National Election Commission by Park Byung-soo, the representative of the Proportional Democratic Party Preparatory Committee, is a residential officetel located in Guro-gu, Seoul. The registered owner on the official registry was Mr. B, the CEO of an electrical construction company, who also directly built this officetel.

Mr. B graduated from C Middle School, named after his hometown. Assemblyman A graduated from C Middle School six years earlier than Mr. B. The issue is that on the 'Social Contribution' section of the website of the company led by Mr. B, there is a photo titled 'On the Seoul School Trip Road of C Middle School,' showing Mr. B and Assemblyman A posing for a commemorative photo with students. Assemblyman A also comes from the construction industry.

Regarding this, Mr. B told Asia Economy in a phone call, "No comment." Multiple attempts to contact Assemblyman A by phone were unsuccessful.

When visited last month, a post-it note saying 'Currently residing' was attached to the door of the Proportional Democratic Party Preparatory Committee office. An officetel official said, "I thought it was vacant, but apparently not. I cannot say more than that."

The semi-proportional representation election law passed the National Assembly plenary session on December 27 last year, and the Proportional Democratic Party Preparatory Committee was registered on December 30 of the same year. At that time, there was speculation that the Democratic Party might be preparing to create a satellite party like the Liberty Korea Party. However, the founding statement expressed positions contrary to the Democratic Party, stating that "attention is focused only on police and prosecution investigation authority adjustment, the passage of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials bill, and vote-splitting election systems," and it is unrelated to the Democratic Party.

Whether it is a mere coincidence or not, rumors have circulated in some political circles about Assemblyman A's involvement with the Proportional Democratic Party Preparatory Committee.

Little is known about Representative Park except that his address is in Daejeon. Attempts to call the registered phone number were either unanswered or the phone was turned off. The National Election Commission has set a policy to reject party names using 'proportional' and conveyed this to Representative Park, but no application for a party name change has been submitted so far.

Meanwhile, following the Proportional Democratic Party, the Future Democratic Party Preparatory Committee was also registered on the 5th, putting the Democratic Party in a difficult position. Democratic Party Assemblyman Lee Jae-jung said, "From the start, adopting a name that can be misunderstood as if the Democratic Party is also trying to use trickery is malicious and an illegal act that disrupts elections," adding, "It is not yet clear whether it is linked to a specific political force, but looking at the representative pushing for the establishment and the location of the office, it clearly does not appear to be a normal party establishment."