Why Are There Suspicions from the Opposition Despite the Launch of the Democratic General Election Planning Team?

General Election Planning Team Leader Jo Jeong-sik... Anti-Myung Faction Calls It a "Pro-Myung Planning Team"
Concerns Over "Assassin Nomination" and "Nomination Massacre" Becoming Reality
Choi Jae-sung: "Incumbents from Anti-Myung Faction Have Advantage in Primaries"

The Democratic Party of Korea has launched an election planning team to oversee next year's general election, but suspicions among the non-Lee Jae-myung faction (non-Myung faction) regarding the appointments have not subsided. The non-Myung faction opposed the fact that Party Secretary-General Jo Jung-sik also took on the role of head of the election planning team, calling it a "pro-Myung planning team."

Earlier, on the 1st, the Democratic Party approved the formation of the 22nd general election planning team consisting of 13 members, with Secretary-General Jo Jung-sik as the head. Among the incumbent lawmakers participating as secretaries were Strategy Planning Committee Chairman Han Byung-do, Chief Deputy Secretary Kim Byung-gi, National Women's Committee Chair Lee Jae-jung, National Youth Committee Chair Jeon Yong-gi, and proportional representation lawmaker Shin Hyun-young.

Among the non-incumbents were Choi Taek-yong, regional committee chair of Busan Gijang-gun, Park Young-hoon, vice-chair of the Youth Future Council, Jang Hyun-joo, planning committee member of the Seoul Bar Association, and Jang Yoon-mi, lawyer at Meta Law Firm.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 1st. Photo by Yonhap News.

Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Won-wook criticized the election planning team appointments, saying that unlike Lee Jae-myung's message of unity upon returning to party affairs, there is no sign of a will for unity, calling it a "pro-Myung factionalization." On the same day, through his Facebook, Lee raised his voice, saying, "The composition of the election planning team is more fittingly called the pro-Myung planning team, not the election planning team," and asked, "Do you think this can be called unity after seeing the appointments of the election planning team?"

However, regarding such criticism, Choi Jae-sung, a pro-Moon (pro-Moon Jae-in) former Blue House political secretary, evaluated it as a "normal composition." On the 2nd, on YTN Radio's 'News King Park Ji-hoon,' former lawmaker Choi said, "The composition of the committee centered on incumbent lawmakers is mostly ex officio. That's how it is when forming an election planning team," adding, "The secretary-general is the head, then the policy committee chair, the director of the Democratic Policy Research Institute, the director of the Democratic Research Institute, and the strategy committee chair must be included."

Regarding the non-Myung faction's mention of the possibility of a 'nomination massacre' becoming a reality due to the election planning team appointments, he said, "A nomination massacre means complete exclusion, or being eliminated outright in the preliminary screening, but the Democratic Party does not do that," adding, "Currently, as long as basic qualifications are not lost, there will be a primary election, so the term massacre does not conceptually fit."

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 1st. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Concerns about 'assassin nominations'?where pro-Myung non-incumbents enter non-Myung constituencies?were also dismissed. Assassin nominations refer to sending nationally recognized and competitive figures to constituencies, but the explanation was that the pro-Myung non-incumbents challenging non-Myung incumbent lawmakers' constituencies are political newcomers, so assassin nominations cannot be established.

Former Secretary Choi said, "(Pro-Myung non-incumbents) are political newcomers who have been in politics for only a few years, so unless non-Myung incumbent lawmakers say 'I want a sole nomination,' assassin nominations cannot be talked about," adding, "In most constituencies, if there is a primary, non-Myung incumbents are actually advantaged, and if they lose to a pro-Myung newcomer in the primary, that would be foolish."