Park Jumin Withdraws from Seoul Mayoral Primary "Cannot Hold Election Amid Legislation Committee Situation"

"Reform Tasks Will Be Completed to the End"
Song Young-gil vs Kim Jin-ae in Two-Way Race

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Joo-yeon] Park Ju-min, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who had thrown his hat into the ring for the June 1 local election for Seoul mayor, announced on the 26th that he would withdraw from the primary race. Park, who serves as the secretary of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, is believed to have made this decision based on the judgment that it would be difficult to handle both the so-called 'Geomsu Wanbak (complete removal of prosecutorial investigation rights)' prosecution reform bill and the local election schedule simultaneously.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On that day, Park wrote on Facebook, "Due to the situation in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, I ultimately could not attend the debate among Seoul mayoral primary candidates yesterday. There is a schedule today to film a policy presentation video set by the party, but I probably won’t be able to attend this either due to the committee’s schedule."

He added, "No matter how much I struggle, it seems impossible to run the election. I wanted to explain the younger and more diverse future of Seoul to the citizens, but due to the delayed primary schedule and the situation in the National Assembly, I now judge that even that is difficult."

Park emphasized, "I think I have no choice but to stop my challenge here," and said, "I will complete the various reform tasks assigned to me until the end." He also added, "I sincerely apologize and thank those who supported and cheered for me."

Park was unable to attend the primary candidate debate the previous day due to the schedule of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee subcommittee. As a result, the party belatedly canceled the debate. Park could not hide his disappointment at the party’s decision. On Facebook the previous day, Park criticized, "Around noon today, I was contacted and told to attend the Seoul mayoral primary candidate debate this evening. Anyone involved in our party would have predicted that the Legislation and Judiciary Committee would continue late today, so suddenly notifying us to have a debate is something I neither understand nor accept."

With Park’s mid-primary withdrawal on this day, the Democratic Party’s Seoul mayoral race is expected to proceed as a two-way contest between former party leader Song Young-gil and former lawmaker Kim Jin-ae.