Park Ji-hyun Reveals "Lee Jae-myung Personally Requested Nomination for Incheon Gyeyang-eul"

""I thought Lee was a person for the people, but he is an opportunist"
"No one listened to me. I saw the true face of the (Democratic Party)""

Former Emergency Response Committee Chairperson of the Democratic Party, Park Ji-hyun. / Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Former Emergency Committee Chairperson of the Democratic Party, Park Jihyun, claimed that the nomination of Assemblyman Lee Jae-myung for the Incheon Gyeyang-eul by-election for the National Assembly, held alongside the June 1 local elections, was 'at the request of Assemblyman Lee.' At the time, there was public criticism regarding Assemblyman Lee running in Incheon Gyeyang-eul, an area with which he had no ties, following his presidential election defeat.

In an interview with Edaily released on the 22nd, former Chairperson Park stated, "During the Incheon Gyeyang-eul National Assembly election, Assemblyman Lee directly requested to be nominated. He even pressured me by calling and asking to be 'called' to (Incheon Gyeyang-eul) himself."

She added, "He spoke as if he would immediately raise his hand and run if not nominated, so I decided to nominate him, but later judged it was wrong and still regret it to this day." At the time, the Democratic Party had stated that Lee's nomination was requested "to directly run for the victory of the local elections," implying that the request came from Assemblyman Lee first.

Former Chairperson Park recruited Assemblyman Lee to the Democratic Party during the presidential election and became the emergency committee chairperson after the election ended. However, she repeatedly clashed with the party leadership over party reform issues and resigned taking responsibility for the June 1 local election defeat. She declared her candidacy for party leader at the Democratic Party’s August convention and even submitted candidate registration documents, but her candidacy was canceled because she did not meet the eligibility requirements (party membership rights).

Regarding Assemblyman Lee, former Chairperson Park criticized, "He thought he could control me, so he put me in as emergency committee chairperson, but since I did not follow his wishes, he expressed a lot of dissatisfaction." She added, "I thought he was someone for the greater good, but now it seems he values his own safety more. He is an opportunist."

Former Chairperson Park also revealed that during the high-level strategy meetings held every Monday at 4 p.m. while she was chairperson, she was consistently ignored. She said, "I was completely ignored there. No one made eye contact or listened to me," and added, "I wanted to abolish all closed-door meetings."

She also criticized the Democratic Party regarding the rejection of her candidacy for the party convention, saying, "They put me in the position when they needed me, but when I didn’t listen to them and didn’t act according to their wishes, they rejected my candidacy saying they 'could not allow' it, revealing their true colors."

Explaining why she insisted on running, she said it was not for 'winning' but to "expose the problems of the Democratic Party in detail to the public. I thought I could help establish the path for the Democratic Party and came this far to talk about reform at least one more time."

Assemblyman Lee’s side did not comment on former Chairperson Park’s claim that "Assemblyman Lee requested the nomination."