Kim Kyung-ji "No Big Response to Han Dong-hoon Support Rally"
Yoon Il-hyun "Rally Atmosphere Was Intense... Effect Was Sufficient"
In the October 16 by-election, the race for the Busan Geumjeong District Mayor seat will be a two-way contest between the unified opposition candidate Kim Kyung-ji of the Democratic Party and Yoon Il-hyun of the People Power Party. While Kim stated that "the election will be fought as a referendum on the current administration," Yoon countered, "They emphasize the referendum on the administration to gain votes, but is the election to fill the remaining term of the Geumjeong District Mayor (about 1 year and 8 months) really connected to a referendum on the administration?"
On the 7th, on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus,' Kim explained the background of the opposition's candidate unification by saying, "It is to heed the wishes of citizens who want to judge the Yoon Seok-yeol administration," emphasizing that it is "a criticism, a warning, or a disciplinary action against the Yoon administration." He added, "The direction of national policy is connected to the lives of Geumjeong residents," and said, "We will conduct the election while communicating with citizens about the Yoon government's one-way national governance and the change and development of Geumjeong District."
However, Yoon expressed skepticism about the opposition unification, saying, "I doubt how much the unified opposition candidate, whose purpose is to combine votes, can impress the residents," and added, "The combined expected vote share of each candidate is unlikely to have much plus alpha."
Regarding the normalization of Chinrye Hospital, one of the region's long-standing projects, Kim said, "If the medical gap caused by conflicts between medical and political sectors is a problem, medical accidents are inevitable," and pointed out, "The solution to the stagnant alley commercial districts in Geumjeong is also directly connected to the lives of citizens." He also said, "It was a pledge of President Yoon and Mayor Park Hyung-joon, but there has been no meaningful progress, so citizens are disappointed." Chinrye Hospital, which was a general hospital, closed in 2017 due to financial difficulties and was left abandoned until 2022 when Busan City decided to purchase the hospital site and began the process of converting it into a public hospital.
Han Dong-hoon, the representative appealing for support for Yoon Il-hyun, the candidate for the Geumjeong District Office by-election. Photo by Yonhap News
In response, Yoon argued that the People Power Party has been steadily working toward the public hospital conversion of Chinrye Hospital. He said, "We are at the final stage (toward normalization)," and explained, "Once it passes the Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee review, the National Health Insurance Corporation will receive the budget, and then the hospital will proceed with the normalization process." He emphasized, "While it is true that Kim said the normalization of Chinrye Hospital is slow, I cannot agree with the claim that the People Power Party failed to normalize Chinrye Hospital."
Earlier, regarding the opposition unification, the People Power Party strongly criticized it as a "baseless collusion" and "an irresponsible act that throws away the future of the region." Han Dong-hoon, leader of the People Power Party, joined Yoon's campaign and fiercely condemned it as a "political collusion show." Kim responded, "I was very surprised by Leader Han's remarks," and criticized, "Although I am a district mayor candidate, when holding a primary for opposition unification, one person must withdraw, so calling it a political show is absolutely unacceptable."
Kim also commented on Leader Han's two-day campaign support, saying, "When the ruling party leader comes, the region should be stirred up, but it feels very quiet," and added, "There is not much of a big reaction." In response, Yoon rebutted, "The campaign venue was very lively." He said, "I think the temperature felt is different because Kim was not present at the site," and emphasized, "It was enough to bring even residents who are not familiar with the by-election to the polling stations."
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