I am an editorial writer at The Korea Times, focusing on foreign policy, North Korea and domestic politics. My key areas of interest include North Korea, foreign interference in elections, election integrity, cyberattacks and human rights. Prior to joining the Editorial Board, I served as both Politics Desk editor and Culture Desk editor. During my career, I have reported on the Presidential Office under the Lee Myung-bak administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly.
Opposition leader offers to resign over defeat
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff reporter
Chung Sye-kyun, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), offered to resign Friday, taking full responsibility for the defeat in Wednesday’s by-elections.
However, the DP’s Supreme Council members didn’t immediately accept his resignation, leaving the decision to be made over the weekend.
The main opposition party is scheduled to pick a new leader and Supreme Council members at its national convention to be held in September.
During the meeting with Supreme Council members, Chairman Chung said someone should take responsibility for the election defeat and he should be the one as he holds the party’s top job.
“If all ranking members were to resign, it would be unavoidable for the party to be in chaos. I alone will leave my post and others should stay in their positions,” Chung was quoted as saying.
He made the remarks in response to the proposal of mass resignations from those who were on the Supreme Council.
Chung has been blamed after the DP barely secured three parliamentary seats out of eight up for grabs in Wednesday’s by-elections.
The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) won the remaining five.
The election results remained an enigma.
Candidates running in the elections on the ruling GNP ticket had campaigned under a hostile environment created by several blunders, including a slip of the tongue by Rep. Kang Yong-seok of the GNP.
Kang reportedly insulted women television news show hosts by describing the nature of their job in inappropriate terms.
The DP politicized Kang’s controversial remarks by painting the ruling party as a group of sexists.
In addition, the past by-election results also showed that a main opposition party has more chances of winning than the ruling party.
Despite the bad signs, the ruling GNP obtained a major victory, defeating the DP that won the June 2 local elections.
Opponents alleged that Chairman Chung made mistakes in selecting the candidates for the by-elections, urging him to resign.