Win in North Jeolla offers relief, but failure to retake Seoul and five by-election losses leave scars; Kim Young-rok openly vows to oust Jung from party leadership
Attention is turning to the leadership ambitions of Jung Chung-rae, the Democratic Party of Korea leader who oversaw the party's campaign in the June 3 local elections.
While the party reclaimed most regional governorships from the opposition, analysts say the failure to win the Seoul mayoral race — the most prized contest — leaves a blemish on the result. Combined with a disappointing showing in National Assembly by-elections, Jung's bid to extend his tenure as party leader is unlikely to be smooth sailing.
Political observers have long tied the fate of Jung's reelection bid — his term runs through August — to the outcome of these local elections.
Toward the end of the campaign, claims grew more frequent that the North Jeolla gubernatorial race would be the decisive test for Jung's leadership future.
Kim Kwan-young, expelled from the Democratic Party over allegations of cash distribution and running as an independent, had framed the race as "Kim Kwan-young versus Jung Chung-rae," and polls repeatedly showed him in a tight race against Democratic Party candidate Lee Won-taek.
In response, floor leader Han Byung-do and other party leaders poured considerable effort into winning over North Jeolla voters in the final stretch. Lee ultimately won the governorship by a comfortable margin. The Democratic Party also claimed 11 of the remaining 15 regional governorship races, securing a commanding numerical victory overall.
Still, the party's loss of Seoul and other races to the People Power Party left Jung's camp with a lingering unease. One ruling-party official criticized the party leadership, saying the biggest setback in the election was the "withdrawal of indictment" issue, which disrupted momentum for ruling-party candidates particularly in Seoul and parts of the Yeongnam region. "Did the party really have to push the fabricated-indictment special prosecutor act right before the election? The party leadership cannot escape a significant share of the blame," the official said.
Jung had previously defended the measure, saying the special prosecutor act targeting fabricated indictments was "part of the process of normalizing the judiciary to correct the wrongs of the Yoon Suk Yeol prosecutors' authoritarian regime." He added that Article 11 of the Constitution guarantees equality before the law, and that denying legitimate redress simply because someone holds the presidency runs counter to the constitutional spirit.
The results of the National Assembly by-elections held alongside the local races have also drawn criticism as "somewhat disappointing." Of the 14 seats contested, 13 had previously been Democratic Party constituencies — but the party ended up ceding Busan Buk-gap, Ulsan Nam-gap, Gyeonggi Province's Pyeongtaek-eul and South Chungcheong's Gongju-Buyeo-Cheongyang to the People Power Party, on top of Daegu Dalseong, which the party had not held going in.
Within the Democratic Party, the narrow defeats in Busan Buk-gap — where Ha Jung-woo was the candidate — and Pyeongtaek-eul, where Kim Yong-nam ran, are seen as particularly painful. In Busan Buk-gap, Jung drew early controversy with remarks involving the word "oppa," which critics say gave independent candidate Han Dong-hoon room to surge. In Pyeongtaek-eul, the party is accused of failing to manage an overheated competition within the broader ruling camp, handing People Power Party winner Yoo Eui-dong a victory by default.
Open opposition to Jung within the party has also begun to surface. Kim Young-rok, the South Jeolla Province governor who had voiced strong objections during the final primary for the special metropolitan mayoral candidate, posted on Facebook immediately after polls closed Wednesday: "I have been waiting for this moment — I held back so as not to damage the Democratic Party. From this moment on, I will dedicate everything I have to removing him from the party leadership."
"For Jung, who must now plunge straight into a leadership race the moment the election is over, these local and by-election results will be far from satisfying," one Democratic Party lawmaker said.
sunpine@heraldcorp.com
