By Lee Tae-hoon
A far-better-than-expected performance of 40-something politicians in the preliminary round of the main opposition Democratic Party’s (DP) leadership race last Thursday has posed a dilemma for the young, reform-minded party members.
The group, called the “486 generation,” refers to those in their 40s who entered university in the 1980s and were born in the 1960s.
On Sept. 8, three politicians representing the party’s 486 faction ― Rep. Choi Jae-sung, 44, Rep. Baek Won-woo, 44, and former lawmaker Lee In-young, 46, ― declared that they would field a single candidate if more than two of them survive in the first round of the leadership contest, which would slash the number of contenders from 16 to nine.
However, what they failed to foresee was that all three of them would make it to the final round and even push out two three-term lawmakers from the race, including Rep. Choo Mi-ae, who was the runner-up in the DP’s last leadership contest in 2008.
The unexpected situation has raised questions as to who should abandon their candidacy and whether it would be even necessary for two of them to walk out of the election to pick a new chairman and five Supreme Council members, when their popularity far exceeds expectations.
Nevertheless, in an effort to avoid internal disputes over the unifying of candidates, Baek, a two-term lawmaker, renounced his candidacy Sunday, calling for support for the two remaining 486 candidates.
“I have made a sacrifice in hopes of avoiding political wrangling and increasing the chance of the two candidates in their 40s to secure a leadership post in the Oct. 3 final contest,” Baek told The Korea Times, Tuesday.
Former lawmaker Woo Sang-ho, 47, known as a de-facto spokesman of the 486 generation, also made an announcement that the group members will support Lee as a unified candidate of the three as he earned the highest votes among them.
Choi is reluctantly mulling quitting the race to support Lee as Baek wants him to continue to run, sources said.
The 486 generation played a pivotal role in helping the late Roh Moo-hyun win the 2007 presidential election and, in return, shared a host of major posts in the presidential office and served as lawmakers of the now-defunct Uri Party, a predecessor to the DP.
Most of them, however, had to overcome stumbling blocks in their political career, following Roh’s rock-bottom popularity during his presidency.
“As we failed to meet the high expectations of the public, many of us were ousted from the mainstream arena,” Woo told the paper.
The younger generation of politicians made a successful comeback in the last DP leadership race in 2008, considering that three of the five elected Supreme Council members were in their 40s.
The 486 generation in the DP also fared much better than anticipated in the June 2 local elections with Ahn Hee-jung, 45, and Lee Gwang-jae, 45, elected as governors of South Chungcheong and Gangwon provinces, respectively, and Song Young-gil, 47, as the mayor of Incheon.
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