Democratic Party Appoints Youth Representative as Head of Presidential Election Planning Team

Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 23rd and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] The Democratic Party of Korea has decided to appoint a figure representing the younger generation as the co-head of the presidential primary planning team. This appears to be a similar move to the Blue House's appointment of Park Seong-min, a 25-year-old university student and former Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party, as the secretary in charge of youth affairs.

On the 23rd, Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil stated at the Supreme Council meeting, "For harmony between the old and new leadership, we have planned to have a current member of the National Assembly (Kang Hoon-sik) lead the planning team, while creating a co-head position to represent the younger generation."

He further evaluated Assemblyman Kang Hoon-sik as "the person who drafted the blueprint for the system nomination" and said, "We will recruit personnel centered around Head Kang Hoon-sik, with existing party officials providing solid support, and bring in a large number of young people to showcase a new image."

This emphasizes the 'youth' as the first step in preparing for the presidential election. Assemblyman Sang-min Lee, a five-term veteran, has been nominated as the election management committee chairman and will be approved at the party affairs committee meeting on the same day.

Regarding the expulsion of Assemblymen Yang Yi-won-young and Yoon Mi-hyang the previous day over allegations of real estate speculation, he said, "It was a painful decision," and added, "As you know, Assemblyman Yang Yi-won-young's case involved her mother. It was not her own issue."

He then turned his criticism toward the People Power Party. Leader Song pointed out, "The People Power Party initially requested an investigation from the Board of Audit and Inspection, but when the Board said it was not their jurisdiction, they belatedly submitted it to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. They did not submit their personal information consent forms at first, only doing so after media criticism. Now, they are refusing to submit consent forms for immediate family members."

He continued, "What is this? Is it really acceptable to treat the public this way?" and criticized, "Leader Lee Jun-seok should immediately verify this; such politics should not be tolerated."