‘Conflict between the great faction, the Patriotic Reform Party, and the National Assembly’… The decisive scene that decided the ‘22nd general election’
The 22nd general election is approaching the finish line on the 10th. Although the official election campaign period lasted only 13 days, the results are expected to be created by the accumulation of events that occurred long before. The by-election for Gangseo-gu mayor in Seoul on October 12 last year was the first battle. Over the next six months, we looked back at 10 decisive scenes that shook public sentiment and changed the course of the election. ① Gangseo-gu mayor by-election In the election held exactly half a year before the general election, the Democratic Party of Korea won, beating the People Power Party by a 17.15% point margin. It was the first inflection point of this general election. Former Gangseo-gu mayor Kim Tae-woo, a member of the People Power Party who was elected in the 2022 local elections, was sentenced to prison on May 18 last year on charges of leaking official secrets during the Moon Jae-in administration and lost his position as district mayor. In the by-election held to fill this vacancy, the People Power Party re-nominated former district mayor Kim, who received a special presidential pardon three months later. The Democratic Party strategically nominated candidate Jin Kyo-hoon, a former deputy chief of the National Police Agency under the previous administration. Although it was a by-election for a district mayor, it was meant to be a prelude to the general election, and both parties campaigned with all their might. Here, as the ruling party suffered a crushing defeat, the ‘Kim Ki-hyun leadership argument’ was a repercussion within the People Power Party. Concerns about vertical party-government relations also arose. ② After a crushing defeat in the by-election for emergency party chairman Han Dong-hoon, the ruling party attempted to resolve the situation with the In Yohan Innovation Committee, but internal strife continued over Chairman In’s pro-Yoon (pro-Yun Seok-yeol) core and senior members, and the party leadership’s suggestion of sacrifice, leading to leader Kim Ki-hyun’s resignation in December last year. I resigned. The People Power Party appointed then-Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, a ‘savior’ who was President Yoon Seok-yeol’s closest associate and the core of Yoon Seok-yeol’s division during his time as a prosecutor, as chairman of the Emergency Response Committee. On December 26, Chairman Han entered the political world with “liquidation of the privileged politics of the activist group” as his slogan upon taking office. From this point on, the People Power Party’s approval rating also began to show a rebound. ③Controversy over Mrs. Kim Kun-hee’s luxury bag The opposition party intensified its offensive over the controversy over President Yoon’s wife Kim Kun-hee receiving a luxury Dior bag. This incident began on November 27 last year when the Voice of Seoul released a secretly recorded video on YouTube showing Korean-American pastor Choi Jae-young handing Ms. Kim a luxury bag. On December 28, immediately after Chairman Han’s inauguration, voices of concern about the ‘Kim Kun-hee risk’ erupted within the ruling party as the special prosecution bill, including the ‘suspicion of manipulation of the stock price of Deutsche Motors’ by Mrs. Kim, was passed through the National Assembly led by the Democratic Party. ④Conflict between Yoon and Han As concerns grew in the ruling party, Chairman Han established an angle with the President’s Office by publicly stating on January 18th that “there are things the public should be concerned about” regarding the controversy over Ms. Kim’s luxury bag. Conflict exploded on the 21st, with the President’s Office demanding Chairman Han’s resignation due to the ‘Sacheon controversy’ over Mapo, Seoul, of emergency committee member Kim Kyung-yul, who was recruited by Chairman Han. In response, Chairman Han dismissed the demand for resignation, saying, “I understand that my term will continue until after the general election.” In the end, on the 23rd of the same month, President Yoon and Chairman Han met at the scene of a fire at the Seocheon Specialty Fish Market in South Chungcheong Province, creating an appearance of dramatically resolving the conflict. At this meeting, Chairman Han bowed 90 degrees to President Yoon and greeted him. ⑤’Screaming death’ nomination On February 19, Representative Kim Young-joo, who was the vice-chairman of the National Assembly of the Democratic Party, declared his withdrawal from the party in protest against the notification of the ‘bottom 20%’. On the 27th and 29th, the Democratic Party’s Strategic Nomination Management Committee cut off Lim Jong-seok, former chief of staff from Moon Jae-in’s Blue House, and four-term lawmaker Hong Young-pyo, a pro-Moon Jae-in leader. Since then, incumbent lawmakers from the Non-Lee Jae-myeong faction, who were rated in the bottom 20%, including Reps. Kang Byeong-won, Park Gwang-on, Park Yong-jin, Yoon Young-chan, Song Gap-seok, and Jeon Hae-cheol, failed to overcome the barrier of the maximum 30% reduction and were eliminated from the primary, leading to calls of ‘screaming death’. The position was filled by nominations from pro-Myung (pro-Lee Jae-myung) figures outside the National Assembly. In this process, Rep. Park Yong-jin of Gangbuk-eul, Seoul, held three intra-party primaries against former Rep. Chung Bong-ju and Roh Moo-hyun Foundation director Su-jin Cho. In the end, Director Cho also resigned due to controversy over his ‘defense of a sex offender’, and Han Min-soo, a spokesperson for the pro-Myung faction party, received the nomination letter. ⑥The Fatherland Innovation Party was launched on March 3. Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk founded the proportional party Cho Kuk Innovation Party. The Fatherland Innovation Party, while emphasizing ‘the theory of judging the regime,’ actively absorbed the pro-Moon and Honam supporters of the Democratic Party and led the proportional approval rating during the election period. He emphasized solidarity with the Democratic Party by taking the lead in ‘Jiminbijo’ (District is Democratic Party, proportional is the Fatherland Innovation Party). Lee Jae-myeong, leader of the Democratic Party, expressed caution with his ‘non-profit theory’, saying that the Democratic Party should become the largest party. ⑦Resignation of Lee Jong-seop and Hwang Sang-moo On March 4, former Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop, who had been under investigation by the High-ranking Public Officials Crime Investigation Office in relation to suspicions of external pressure in the death of Marine Corps Corporal Chae-mo, was appointed ambassador to Australia, and on the 14th, Hwang Sang-moo, former Senior Secretary for Civil Society in the President’s Office, made a statement about ‘journalist holocaust terrorism’. ‘ The controversy continued until the middle of last month, and the ‘metropolitan area crisis theory’ spread in the ruling party. Chairman Han requested the President’s Office to “immediately return Ambassador Lee to Korea,” but the President’s Office refused, increasing the sense of crisis over the “second Yoon-Han conflict.” In the end, President Yoon accepted Ambassador Lee’s early return to Korea and Chief Hwang’s resignation, but the atmosphere in the ruling party deteriorated rapidly in key battlegrounds. ⑧Conflict over the government: Due to the government’s policy of increasing the number of medical school students by 2,000, the government and doctors clashed, prolonging the medical gap. Public opinion, which was initially in favor of the government’s policy of increasing the number of workers, turned away due to fatigue as the doctors’ strike continued. Chairman Han requested the President’s Office to change its stance proactively, saying, “It is not an issue that should be buried in numbers,” and on the 1st, President Yoon announced a public statement leaving room for negotiation with the medical community. ⑨Big wave controversy Many people choose ‘big wave’ as the word that most swayed voters in this general election. It started with President Yoon’s remark, which was almost a slip of the tongue, when he was checking on-site prices at Nonghyup Hanaro Mart in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 18th of last month, saying, “Still, I think 875 won (for one bunch of green onions) is a reasonable price.” President Yoon also added, “Wouldn’t it be difficult to buy it this cheaply elsewhere?” However, the opposition party went on the offensive, ignoring the context, and it escalated into a “catastrophe.” While the suffering of the common people is increasing due to high inflation, President Yoon, who already has an image of being ‘uncommunicative’, has been evaluated as having touched an emotional ‘critical point’ by making this statement. High inflation, represented by the huge collapse, has become a keyword in the opposition party’s theory of judging the regime. ⑩ Candidate’s foul language and real estate controversy It was revealed that Democratic Party candidate Yang Moon-seok (Ahn San-gap, Gyeonggi-do) received a business loan of 1.1 billion won in the name of his college student daughter while purchasing an apartment in Seocho-gu, Seoul, raising suspicions of ‘Saemaeul Geumgo’s expedient loan.’ Candidate Yang was also accused by the Ansan Sangnok Election Commission in Gyeonggi Province for underreporting the property of this apartment to the publicly announced price rather than the actual transaction. Democratic Party candidate Kim Jun-hyuk (Suwonjeong, Gyeonggi-do) became a source of controversy in the final stages of the election after his past remarks became known belatedly. In 2022, a YouTube video said, “(Kim Hwal-ran, the first president of Ewha Womans University) had Ewha students offer sex to US military officers during the US military government.” Reporter Seol Ji-yeon [email protected]
2024-04-10 08:24:52
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