Park Junghoon Criticizes “Lee Jaemyung Campaign Figure on PPP Nomination Panel,” Committee Says “No Issue”

Nomination committee explains: "Left the Democratic Party long ago"

On the 22nd, it emerged that Kim Boram, a member of the People Power Party’s Nomination Management Committee, had previously served as a headquarters chief in Lee Jaemyung’s presidential campaign, sparking controversy.

People Power Party lawmaker Park Junghoon, who is aligned with the pro-Han Donghoon faction, pointed out that on this day Professor Kim Boram of Seokyeong University’s Department of Public Human Resources, who serves as a nomination management committee member for the party in the local elections, had worked in the past in President Lee Jaemyung’s presidential campaign.

Kim Boram, a member of the People Power Party's Candidate Management Committee, is attending the first meeting of the Central Party Candidate Management Committee for the 9th nationwide local elections at the People Power Party central headquarters in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on the 20th. Yonhap News

Through Facebook, Assemblyman Park said, “It has been confirmed that Professor Kim, who was appointed as a member of our party’s nomination committee, served as the head of the Youth Election Headquarters established within the Seoul Metropolitan Chapter of the Democratic Party of Korea during the 2022 presidential election,” adding, “Even a figure who played a key role within the Democratic Party to make Lee Jaemyung president has now come to wield influence over our party’s nominations.”

He went on to say, “Even if it is not necessarily people like this, there are plenty of young people and legal professionals who have been working for our party. I hope that the party members who have been on the front lines fighting the Democratic Party for the sake of the local elections will no longer be humiliated.”

On this day, the People Power Party’s Nomination Management Committee said in a statement regarding the controversy over Committee Member Kim’s background, “During the 2022 presidential election, she served as head of the youth headquarters at the Seoul Metropolitan Chapter in Lee Jaemyung’s presidential campaign for the Democratic Party of Korea, and she has experience participating in the process of establishing the Democratic Party’s rules for the local elections.”

However, it also said, “In the process of offering her the nomination committee position, we confirmed that she had already left the Democratic Party,” adding, “In our political arena, there have been many cases in which people have changed party affiliation in line with their convictions and beliefs and have gone on to play a greater role.”

Previously, on the 20th, Assemblyman Park also criticized the appointment of attorney Hwang Surim, one of the nomination committee members, as inappropriate, arguing that she had served as a defense attorney in President Lee Jaemyung’s first-instance trial on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act in 2019, when he was governor of Gyeonggi Province.

At the time, the nomination committee stated, “Since joining the People Power Party as a member in 2021, Attorney Hwang has not taken on any cases related to the Democratic Party,” and said there was no issue of concern.