Gominjeong: "Im Jongseok, a Situation Where He Must Be Nominated"

"Factional Conflicts Are at a Dangerous Level"

Ko Min-jung, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 26th regarding the nomination of former Blue House Chief of Staff Lim Jong-seok for Seoul Jungseongdong-gap, "The situation has now reached a point where we have no choice but to nominate him."

Ko Min-jung, Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Ko said on YTN Radio's "News King Park Ji-hoon" that morning, "It seems that several surveys were conducted to see if there was anyone with higher approval ratings in that area than former Chief Lim, but if there had been someone better, we wouldn't have come this far," she said.

She added, "Junggu Seongdong-gap is right next to Gwangjin-eul, where I am, so I know the local sentiment better than anyone else," and said, "The general election is quite difficult. Right now, it's not important who gets the Democratic Party's nomination, but the residents there say, 'We need to quickly decide on a Democratic candidate to be able to fight against the People Power Party.'

She continued, "The Democratic Party, as the opposition, should judge not by the person Lim Jong-seok but by who can win in that area," and said, "The situation has come to the brink of exploding, and we have missed good opportunities to mediate, so I believe we must quickly nominate a candidate to settle this issue."

Regarding the recent internal nomination conflicts within the party, she said, "I wonder if there has ever been a time this serious," and added, "This factional conflict phase is actually at a dangerously high level even for the public." She also said, "(Former) lawmakers Lee Su-jin and Kim Young-joo, who left the party, have not even convinced me objectively why they received the bottom 20% rating. They need to be explained about the bottom 20% rating," and "otherwise, there is a high possibility that aftershocks such as defections will continue."

Regarding the calls from some quarters for party leader Lee Jae-myung and pro-Lee senior members to not run, she said, "The issues of the bottom 20% rating and distrust in the opinion polls must be clearly resolved," and added, "At this point, I think it is too tight a timeline to expect that changing one person will quickly solve this problem, so I don't think it is feasible."