Overturned Public Office Committee Decision in Two Private Meetings
Allegations of Requesting to 'Save Min Kyung-wook'... Hwang Expresses "Regret"
Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the United Future Party, is attending the Central Election Countermeasures Committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the 26th and delivering an opening remark. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] Hwang Kyo-ahn, the leader of the United Future Party who had promised to give "full authority" for innovative candidate selection, ended up directly intervening in the nominations after staging a late-night "melodrama." As a result, Representative Min Kyung-wook survived, while young candidates who had passed the party audition and received nominations lost their opportunities. Although the nominations are concluding, internal party conflicts are deepening. Criticism that the party leadership abused their authority has emerged even within the Supreme Council, and suspicions of Hwang’s private recommendations have surfaced.
The United Future Party’s nomination process experienced chaos up until just before the registration of general election candidates, which began on the 26th. The day before, Hwang held two closed-door meetings at dawn and at night, ultimately overturning the decisions of the Candidate Management Committee. This can be summarized as direct nominations and rushed primaries. The committee’s single-candidate recommendations were rejected and turned into primaries, and requests to withdraw Min’s nomination were dismissed.
Initially, Hwang had vowed to give "full authority" while making repeated efforts to recruit former Candidate Management Committee Chairman Kim Hyung-o. Even when the committee was formed, he repeatedly emphasized that "autonomy will be granted, and there will be no interference," but in the end, he wielded the nomination knife himself. There are criticisms within the party that he excessively intervened by interpreting his authority favorably rather than respecting the committee’s decisions and procedures. One party official said, "He left a bad precedent that the committee’s decisions can be overturned at any time."
The biggest beneficiary of the Supreme Council’s direct intervention is considered to be Representative Min. Although Min was effectively cut off twice by the party’s Candidate Management Committee, the Supreme Council overturned this and confirmed his nomination. Min is classified as a pro-Hwang faction member, having served as the first spokesperson under the "Hwang Kyo-ahn regime."
On the other hand, young political newcomers who had earned nomination opportunities through auditions aimed at fostering young politicians saw their dreams crushed as the party leadership accepted opposition from local party members. Supreme Council members Lee Jun-seok and Shin Bo-ra expressed dissatisfaction with the leadership’s decision, saying, "It is regrettable that the principles held by the Candidate Management Committee and those of the Supreme Council members do not align," and "It is unfortunate that a young person has become a scapegoat in the political process." The nomination for Busan Geumjeong District, where Representative Kim Se-yeon declared she would not run, also became a chaotic battle between the committee and the leadership until the last moment, making the bad relationship between Kim and Hwang an ongoing issue.
The candidates hit by this sudden blow are immediately protesting. Lee Yoon-jung, former co-chair of the Future Forum at the Yeouido Institute, whose nomination for Uiwang-Gwacheon in Gyeonggi was canceled by the Supreme Council’s invalidation decision, said, "I cannot accept this," and filed an injunction to suspend the cancellation of the nomination at the Seoul Southern District Court that day. Kim Won-gil, a member of the party’s Central Committee and head of the Subcommittee on the Economy for Ordinary People, who was forced into a primary after the committee initially gave him a single nomination but the leadership overturned it, harshly criticized, "This is a despicable and disgusting situation, and the current election race has become the worst."
Meanwhile, a revelation that Hwang had asked former Chairman Kim to save Representative Min, who was initially cut off, is expected to cause a bigger stir. Former Representative Min Hyun-joo, whose final nomination was blocked, claimed on MBC radio that day, "I heard internally that during the process where the first single nomination was changed to a primary against Min, Hwang earnestly requested a primary with Min."
Regarding the party’s nomination process, she said, "At first, I thought Hwang and the leadership respected the committee’s bold nomination decisions well, but as the replacement rate of pro-Park members increased and Hwang’s own approval rating dropped significantly, I think they felt a sense of crisis. They judged that if things continued as they were, the post-election moves of Hwang and the pro-Park lawmakers would be very unfavorable."
She then criticized, "At the end, the Supreme Council abruptly canceled four nominations without authority, replaced candidates, and took unreasonable measures such as conducting opinion polls by landline on the first day of candidate registration. This was ultimately their last desperate attempt to maintain the pro-Park and Hwang regimes after the election."
In response, Hwang told reporters immediately after the meeting, "There were criticisms about nominations that the public could not accept, and the party leadership needed to finalize the matter," adding, "It is regrettable that some disappointing points arose."
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