Kwon Seong-dong "Local Elections, Second Half of Regime Change... Democratic Party's Innovation Promise is an 'Election Bounced Check'"

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, Even Gimpo Airport Escapes
Fugitive Song Young-gil "Pitiful Situation"

Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending the floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 31st and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, said on the 31st, "The local elections are the second half of the regime change," and added, "We must win to complete the regime change."

At the floor countermeasure meeting held a day before the June 1 local elections, Floor Leader Kwon said, "We narrowly won the last presidential election by 0.7 percentage points," and added, "What if we had lost by 0.7%? To avoid regrets, we must encourage voting until the polls close tomorrow."

The attacks against Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party candidate running in the Incheon Gyeyang-eul by-election, and Song Young-gil, the Seoul mayoral candidate, intensified. Floor Leader Kwon criticized, "Candidate Lee, the governor of Gyeonggi Province, is even trying to let Gimpo Airport escape," and said, "The nationwide elections in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Jeju, etc., are a team kill where each only looks out for themselves." He added, "Candidate Lee is misleading the public with delusions such as a large passenger plane that can vertically take off and land, saying it takes only 10 minutes from Seoul to Incheon," and "Surrounded by a small group of hardcore supporters, he fails to see the cold true public sentiment and mistakenly believes the public will be deceived by any lie." He mocked Song’s situation as even more pitiful. Floor Leader Kwon said, "He abandoned Incheon, which elected him as a member of the National Assembly five times, and suddenly became a fugitive," and criticized, "Claiming that if you pay 1 million won in Seoul Coin, you get triple the profit is nothing but the language of a merchant." He continued, "Although they wisely made an agreement to relocate Gimpo Airport with Candidate Lee, when criticism arose, they quietly withdrew, calling it a Gyeonggi project," and declared, "His run for Seoul mayor proved to be a sacrifice for Candidate Lee."

He also condemned the promise of reform made the previous day by Candidate Lee and Democratic Party emergency committee leaders Yoon Ho-jung and Park Ji-hyun as a "campaign check that will bounce." Floor Leader Kwon said, "The Democratic Party does not keep promises such as letting the People Power Party take the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee regardless of the presidential election results, or the political reform promises made ten days before the election," and emphasized, "The People Power Party and the Yoon Seok-yeol government will show results through action, not words." He cited examples such as opening the Blue House, disaster relief funds for small business owners and self-employed, and the passage of the Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province bill, saying, "We will launch ten urgent livelihood stabilization projects including stabilizing the cost of living for ordinary people," and added, "The change in Korea has already begun. If the last presidential election was one that made Korea’s heart beat again, this local election is a golden opportunity to inject innovation into every corner of Korea."