Park Yong-jin "Resignation of Democratic Party Leadership Inevitable"

Park Yong-jin, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker. / Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] Park Yong-jin, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, expressed the opinion that the entire leadership of the Democratic Party must inevitably resign.

On the 8th, Park appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said, "(The total resignation of the leadership) personally seems inevitable to me," adding, "A party meeting is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. today. We will first see what the leadership's decision is there and gather the opinions of the members."

He continued, "Given the current situation, it won't be easy to just hold a by-election for the position vacated by Representative Lee Nak-yeon," and said, "I think opinions and demands for a total resignation will probably come out, but I will wait and see."

Park also emphasized, "For the Democratic Party, there will be three key events: the election of the floor leader, then the party representative election at the party convention, and the presidential candidate primary. The Democratic Party must show that it has changed through these."

He stressed the need for a 'new figure.' Park said, "If it ends with soulless apologies and meaningless talk about innovation, we won't be able to be confident about the presidential election," adding, "Within the Democratic Party, we need new figures and a new direction."

Regarding the by-election defeat, he said, "Throughout the election period, I felt the message was 'Roll up your sleeves, forget everything else, and keep your mouth shut. Roll up your sleeves.' The process of running the election campaign seemed to show a lack of understanding of why the public was telling us to roll up our sleeves."