People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo [Yonhap]
People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo [Yonhap]

People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo urged President Lee Jae Myung on Sunday to stop ignoring the ballot shortage crisis and take direct action, saying now is not the time for the president to leave on an overseas trip.

Writing on his Facebook page, Ahn said ballot papers ran out at 50 polling stations across the country during the recent election, with voting temporarily halted at 22 of them. "This is an unprecedented crisis that shakes the very foundation of liberal democracy," he said, adding that the Democratic Party of Korea's first response was to warn against treating the matter as a political attack.

Ahn said President Lee was watching the situation "like a distant fire on a mountain — as if it were someone else's problem." He said liberal democracy and citizens' right to political participation are "the bedrock of the Republic of Korea that politics must protect above any partisan dispute."

"The moment the weight of a single vote is shaken, the foundation of democracy crumbles with it," he added. Ahn said the president bears ultimate responsibility, and asked what answer Lee would give to citizens worried that poor election management was undermining democracy, that a bill to drop criminal charges was eroding the rule of law, and that cash-heavy policies and an anti-business stance were destabilizing the market economy while driving the exchange rate sharply higher.

"The time has come for President Lee to step forward himself," Ahn said. "This is not something to hand off to a newly appointed prime minister before heading abroad."

He called on the president to swiftly pursue effective measures — including a by-election, a parliamentary investigation and a special prosecutor — and said the responsibility for restoring broken public trust rests with the president alone. Ahn also described the scene at Jamsil as "a mature forum for communication, where people of all generations came together to defend their rights and speak out for what is right."

"The government and the Democratic Party must never turn away from these desperate voices," he said. "I sincerely hope they will listen to the people crying out with all their hearts — before anything else."


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