A Bold Move Challenging the Pro-Moon Dominated Top Leadership... Yoon Young-chan Abruptly Withdraws from Opposition's Supreme Council Candidate Race

"Support Song Gap-seok, the Only Candidate Outside the Capital Area"
"A Stone Thrown to Shake Up the Prearranged Structure"
Possibility of Change in the Pro-Myeong Supreme Council Dynamics

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Yoon Young-chan, a candidate who ran for the Democratic Party of Korea's Supreme Council member, abruptly announced his withdrawal on the 22nd. Yoon declared his support for Song Gap-seok, another Supreme Council candidate. With four out of the five winning candidates being pro-Lee Jae-myung faction members, attention is focused on whether this unification declaration will bring about a shift in the political landscape.

At a press conference held at the National Assembly on the same day, Yoon stated, "Today, I have decided to stop my challenge as a candidate for the 5th party convention Supreme Council member." He added, "Although my challenge to become a Supreme Council member and work has ended today, my love for the Democratic Party will not stop. My belief that the Democratic Party must completely change its decision-making methods and communication culture to regain the people's love will remain unchanged."

He appealed, "At this point, I want to entrust my share of the challenge to another candidate with greater potential than myself. Please support my friend Song Gap-seok, who has steadfastly advocated for balanced development as the only candidate from outside the metropolitan area."

Yoon had received 6.63% of the vote in the nationwide party member voting excluding the metropolitan area, ranking 8th among eight candidates. He judged that Song, who raised his support rate in the Gwangju-Jeonnam primary, had a higher chance of winning and thus declared his support.

As a justification for the candidate unification, he emphasized the need for the party leadership to include a figure representing regional voices. He explained, "From Gangwon-do to Chungcheong-do, from Busan to Gwangju, what I felt while traveling nationwide was the decline of the Democratic Party's national organization and the rapidly deteriorating reality of local areas due to severe regional extinction and population cliffs. The indifference of political and party power, which only rushes toward centralization, and the defeat of the Democratic Party, which aimed for decentralization and a nationwide party, have caused loneliness and alienation felt by people across the country to be deeper and more serious than I imagined." Yoon added, "It seems clear that the future party leadership structure will be thoroughly centered on the metropolitan area and the central party. I have concluded that at least one person who represents the voices of non-metropolitan citizens must be included in the Supreme Council."

However, behind Yoon's unification declaration appears to be a strategic move to bring some change to a leadership likely to be dominated by the pro-Lee Jae-myung faction. Currently, the Supreme Council election candidates based solely on party member votes are Jeong Cheong-rae, Ko Min-jung, Seo Young-kyo, Jang Kyung-tae, and Park Chan-dae. Among them, all except Ko Min-jung are affiliated with the pro-Lee faction.

Yoon did not hide that his withdrawal declaration was prompted by Song's emerging possibility of entering the top five in the Gwangju-Jeonnam primary. After announcing his withdrawal, he told reporters, "There are many Supreme Council candidates, but I declared support for Song, who is not aligned with any particular faction, hoping he would enter and voice a correct opinion." He added, "This is a struggle to shake even one of the prearranged structures in the party convention, and I hope you see it as a stone I am throwing. I feel that the situation where some people give up voting or are indifferent and do not vote is rather strengthening the polarization toward certain candidates or factions."