Park Ji-hyun, After Failed Bid for Party Leadership, Asks "What Are the Leadership and Lee Jae-myung Afraid Of?"

"Decision with No Regard for General Election Victory... A Path Shrinking Due to Violent Fandom"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] On the 4th, former Emergency Committee Chairperson of the Democratic Party, Park Jihyun, reacted strongly after her bid for the party leadership election was nullified due to unmet requirements, asking, "What are the Democratic Party leadership and Assemblyman Lee Jae-myung afraid of?"

In a Facebook post that day, former Chairperson Park stated, "I trust that no one believes I would become the leader and push out all the established politicians." She added, "The Emergency Committee did not even put my candidacy on the agenda and simply concluded with a statement of position," calling it "a declaration that the clause created to bring numerous new recruits into the party would not be allowed for a woman, a youth, and someone advocating party reform."

Regarding the Emergency Committee's decision, she criticized, "It is a decision that disregards the party's expansion and victory in the general election," and said, "The party leadership has abandoned pluralistic-based mass politics and chosen the path of shrinking into violent fandom politics." Former Chairperson Park said, "I believed it would be difficult to win the general and presidential elections with the party's shrinking support base after the presidential and local elections," and added, "I dreamed of fiercely competing with Assemblyman Lee Jae-myung in the leadership election and then uniting magnanimously, but the party concluded to fly with only one wing."

She also took aim at Senior Advisor Lee Jae-myung. Former Chairperson Park said, "My entry into the presidential race was not simply for Lee Jae-myung but for the liberation of women suffering from discrimination and violence," and continued, "That is why I expelled Assemblyman Park Wanju and insisted on disciplining Assemblyman Choi Kang-wook for his sexual harassment remarks, but the 'Cheoreomhoe' and fandom united tightly to attack me, and Assemblyman Lee Jae-myung remained silent."

She stated, "This is a matter of whether the Democratic Party lives or dies. Can a party that ignores centrists and women and shrinks into a small fandom defeat the People Power Party in the Seoul metropolitan area, the most critical battleground in the general election?" She then declared, "From now on, I will embark on a struggle for the 'democratization of the Democratic Party' together with the youth and the people who desperately want change in the party."

Earlier, the Democratic Party Emergency Committee decided in a morning meeting not to put the exception clause for former Chairperson Park's candidacy for the party leadership election on the agenda.