[Full Text] Woo Won-sik, "Beyond 'Eul' to the People... I Will Restore Trust" Announces Candidacy for Party Leader

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] On the 15th, Woo Won-sik, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, officially declared his candidacy for party leader, stating, "I will return to the people and the field to regain the trust of the people." Woo emphasized, "I will innovate and unite to reestablish the Democratic Party among the people," and added, "We need a party leader who ensures the party properly channels the strong current of people's livelihood. Woo Won-sik, who understands people's livelihood well and communicates effectively with the field, is the right person."

Woo was elected as a member of the 17th National Assembly and has consecutively served four terms representing Nowon B district in Seoul. He served as the Democratic Party's Supreme Council member during the 19th National Assembly and later chaired the Euljiro Committee, an organization responding to corporate 'gapjil' abuses. In the 21st National Assembly, he is serving as the chair of the Special Committee on Balanced National Development.

Below is the full text of his candidacy declaration.

Breaking Through with People's Livelihood

Innovating with Party Members, Winning with the People

Woo Won-sik's Democratic Party of Korea Leadership Candidacy Declaration 2021.4.15

Respected citizens,

Dear party members and comrades,

The path lost by letting go of the people's hands,

I have come out to the square to find it again among the people.

The square was where the will of countless citizens who wanted to build a country worthy of its name gathered.

At this very place where the candlelight protests began, I engrave the people's perspective taught by the square.

I will open the path again among the people.

The Democratic Party has lost the trust of the people. The warning signs were clear enough.

But we failed to properly understand the people's hearts and just passed by.

We were distant from the people and detached from the realities of life.

I will correct the mistakes that caused great wounds to the people's expectations and hopes.

The people have shown the Democratic Party the way to go, and I believe we must not hesitate.

Together with the vast majority of the people, the Eul class, and having worked on the frontlines of people's lives,

I want to become the leader of the Democratic Party.

I will return to the people and the field to regain the people's trust.

Starting with this party convention, I will make it a convention focused on people's livelihood, not a pro- or anti-Moon faction contest.

I will innovate and unite to reestablish the Democratic Party among the people.

I will do three things.

First, I will innovate through people's livelihood.

I will strengthen our identity by focusing on the areas where the people hurt the most.

The Democratic Party has four pillars.

They are democracy, peace, people's livelihood, and balanced development.

So far, the Democratic Party has emphasized democracy and peace.

In addition, we must empower the middle class and working-class party of President Kim Dae-jung,

and the balanced national development of President Roh Moo-hyun more than ever.

The first two pillars are pillars of values.

The latter two pillars are pillars that change the lives of the people.

In an era where polarization and economic inequality are structural,

we must firmly establish the pillars of people's livelihood and balanced development alongside democracy and peace,

to support the weary lives of the people.

I will focus on the pillar of people's livelihood. For now, it is COVID-19.

Polarization caused by unfairness and inequality.

It has already been a year of enduring each day with a heart that feels like blood is drying up.

There is nothing more urgent than resolving the anxiety and fear that life is staggering and feels like it might be uprooted entirely.

When politics drifts away from the problems of people's lives, politics becomes vested interests.

I will not just claim that we are not vested interests in words. I will show it through actions.

I will fight with all my might over the people's livelihood issues.

When facing difficulties, I will remember just one thing.

How earnest the people's will was to make Kim Dae-jung president, to create a new country with Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in,

I will remember only that.

When fiscal soundness logic becomes a wall to people's livelihood, when bureaucracy confines people's livelihood,

when complacency within us says 'this is enough' or 'reality cannot be helped' and stops people's livelihood,

I will break through this grim reality with the urgency the people have gathered.

Second, I will innovate by strengthening field-oriented party operations.

The Democratic Party has 2 million party members in every neighborhood nationwide.

Through the activities of the Euljiro Committee, including franchisee organizations,

more than 60 people's livelihood organizations have grown together with the Democratic Party.

I will ensure that the voices from the field reach the party through party members and people's livelihood organizations.

Third, I will innovate more strictly than the people's perspective.

In the face of wrongdoings by elected officials of the party, such as real estate speculation,

I will not hesitate. I will deal firmly with mistakes and faults.

I will elevate the Ethics Inspection to an Ethics Inspection Office, strengthening investigative authority and capabilities,

and introduce a citizen jury to the Ethics Tribunal to eradicate favoritism within the party.

Respected citizens, party members and comrades,

To overcome the people's livelihood crisis, I will prioritize three initiatives.

First, I will align the perspective on real estate issues with the people's viewpoint.

We must not retreat from the fundamental principles of stabilizing the housing market and protecting genuine buyers.

We will firmly eradicate speculation and pursue competent changes in supply, loans, and taxation.

We will steadfastly maintain the 2.4 measures' stance.

The meticulously prepared measures to prevent speculation and recover development gains must be upheld.

We will properly place the housing ladder so that ordinary people can fulfill their simple wish to own a home.

We will proceed smoothly with the 3rd new towns and public redevelopment to help affordable home ownership.

We will also supply a large quantity of quality lifelong housing, such as land lease sale housing and sale housing.

We will remove the real estate bubble

and not lose the dream of owning a home without incurring huge debts.

I will establish a real estate policy organization within the party.

We will comprehensively review government real estate policies,

and the party, which is in touch with public sentiment, will take the lead in reorganizing the front.

We will align government policies with the demands of the housing field.

Second, I will support the people fighting COVID-19,

and build trust that the Democratic Party is essential for the revival of people's livelihood and the recovery of self-employed businesses pushed to the brink.

The people's quarantine capacity is world-class,

but COVID-19 livelihood financial support measures fall far short of advanced countries.

I will correct this imbalance.

Though the treasury is not an inexhaustible source, the people's patience is not inexhaustible either.

I will enforce the common sense that taxes paid by the people are returned to their pockets.

I will firmly take the initiative in preparing and executing financial support measures.

I will expedite the preparation of disaster relief measures that truly help the people, the owners of the finances.

We will establish comprehensive policies to address the difficulties faced by self-employed people from various angles, including loss compensation systems for business suspension orders, strengthened disaster relief funds, nationwide employment insurance including the self-employed as a social safety net,

and the promotion of rent freeze laws and fair rent adjustments.

I will use the 180 seats given by the people as a means for people's livelihood legislation.

Third, I will establish a framework for people's livelihood politics through the People's Livelihood Supreme Council and the People's Livelihood New Deal Alliance.

Like the New Deal coalition that enabled the U.S. Democratic Party's 30-year rule in the 1930s,

we must fully embrace the socially vulnerable through a Korean-style People's Livelihood New Deal Alliance.

We must pursue greater and continuous people's livelihood reforms, not one-time reforms.

I will push for legislation guaranteeing the bargaining rights of the Eul class, using the 180 seats for this purpose.

I will also prepare fiercely for the future of the Republic of Korea.

We will overcome the COVID era with strong socio-economic reforms against inequality and polarization.

Based on just transition, we will create the 4th Industrial Revolution era that captures both quality jobs and growth.

We will create new growth engines through energy transition against vested interests in nuclear and coal power.

We will overcome the low birthrate and aging crisis by expanding welfare systems and balanced development.

We will establish the pillar of balanced development.

The overconcentration of the metropolitan area and the extinction of local areas are pushing Korea toward extreme imbalance.

This threatens Korea's competitiveness and destroys people's lives.

We will prevent local extinction and create a country where everyone prospers evenly by making the metropolitan area a global economic center and local areas specialized mega-city strategies.

Dear party members and comrades,

Protecting the success of the Moon Jae-in government is the mission of all Democratic Party members.

No party member does not consider the success of the Moon Jae-in government and regime re-creation as their own matter.

We just need to unite with the most certain plan to enter the path of regime re-creation.

People's livelihood is the plan, and the field is the answer.

The Democratic Party will revive only by returning to the people.

We must achieve results in people's livelihood to recreate the regime.

Only by succeeding in regime re-creation can the Moon Jae-in government be fully evaluated.

We must make the party the base camp for regime re-creation.

This is the most important role of the party leader for the next 11 months.

Through this party convention, we must send a clear signal to the people.

On the evening of May 2, the people should be able to say, 'A people's livelihood representative has emerged,' and 'The Democratic Party is changing.'

We must head downwards, not left or right, towards the field.

The party leader must firmly establish the party's center and not waver.

We need a party leader who ensures the strong current of people's livelihood flows properly through the party.

The leader must understand people's livelihood well and communicate effectively with the field. Woo Won-sik is the right person.

Woo Won-sik, who made the Euljiro Committee a stepping stone connecting the Democratic Party and the people,

and the best people's livelihood practice program in party history, will become the party leader.

He will delve downwards and into the field to align with the people's perspective,

and ensure that many people, not vested interests, feel assured that 'The Democratic Party is protecting us' with 180 seats.

Thus, we will bring in 5 million more votes.

The party leader must be someone who can make the Democratic Party a one team.

Fair management of the primary is basic.

Presidential candidates must be able to fully demonstrate their ambitions and abilities.

The party leader must play the role of standing tall as one team with the presidential candidates.

A party leader who does not put himself first but shines the presidential candidates from a humble position,

Woo Won-sik can do this best.

The party leader must be steadfast, focusing only on party unity and regime re-creation.

Always putting the people and the party first ensures that the people and party members are not anxious.

A party leader who can provide reassurance, Woo Won-sik will do it.

The success of the Moon Jae-in government, Woo Won-sik will achieve.

Regime re-creation, Woo Won-sik will achieve.

Dear and respected party members and comrades,

Our party's competitor is not the People Power Party. It is yesterday's Democratic Party.

The 'Kim Dae-jung's Democratic Party' that endured harsh times and finally achieved the historic first regime change,

'Roh Moo-hyun's Democratic Party' that devoted everything to a world without privilege and unfairness,

'Moon Jae-in's Democratic Party' that opened the door to popular sovereignty and power institution reform,

how thrilling that history was.

But now, we must firmly stand on this proud path

and create a Democratic Party better than yesterday's Democratic Party.

That is the path we must take, and that is the way to repay the people.

Let's go together. Let's go together on the path where the Democratic Party wins and the people win.