Majority of metropolitan-area youth local lawmakers join endorsement
'Right person to restore youth trust in the party'
Backers cite pledges on youth budget participation, elected youth supreme council member
A total of 152 youth local lawmakers from the greater Seoul area affiliated with the Democratic Party of Korea have officially declared their support for Kim Dong-a, a candidate for the party's national youth committee chairmanship.
Youth lawmakers at both the metropolitan and district levels from Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon held a press conference Tuesday afternoon at the National Assembly's communication room to announce their backing of Kim. The endorsement was signed by 49 metropolitan-level lawmakers and 103 district-level lawmakers, totaling 152 — out of 206 youth local lawmakers in the greater Seoul area.
Twelve lawmakers attended the press conference as representatives, including Seoul Metropolitan Council member Noh Seong-cheol, Gyeonggi Provincial Council member Son Seong-ik and Incheon City Council member Kim Dae-young.
In their endorsement statement, the lawmakers said, "Now is the time for a youth committee chair with the power to move the party and the National Assembly, and a flexible national youth committee leadership that listens to and acts on diverse voices from the field. We believe Kim Dong-a is the right person to anchor that effort."
They added that they would "work with Kim Dong-a to bring issues from the ground into the party's agenda and connect them to legislation in the National Assembly and government policy," and pledged to "make young people feel real change in their lives through the Democratic Party."
The lawmakers also threw their weight behind Kim's campaign pledges to expand youth political participation, including the introduction of a youth participatory budgeting system and an elected youth supreme council member. Other key pledges include reducing the financial burden of candidate deposits and primary election costs for young people, expanding a youth development fund, and establishing a new subcommittee on urgent issues facing people in their 20s and 30s.
"Youth local lawmakers across the country, provincial and city-level youth committees, and local youth party members must communicate and cooperate on a regular basis," the lawmakers said. "Youth policies that have produced results in one region should be shared nationwide, and challenges stuck at the local level must be resolved together by central and local actors."
Kim previously served as co-head of the youth headquarters for Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae Myung's campaign, chair of the party's youth future roundtable, head of the Democratic Party outreach office and head of a misinformation monitoring unit.
The Democratic Party's national youth committee chairmanship election will be held through delegate and party member voting from Sunday through Tuesday. Online voting will take place Sunday.
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