Ruling party shaken by nomination bribery allegations ahead of local elections

Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the Democratic Party of Korea, bows in apology after announcing he will step down over allegations surrounding him during a party floor leadership meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

Korea’s ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is scrambling to contain political fallout after allegations surfaced that money may have been exchanged during its candidate nomination process ahead of the 2022 local elections — a controversy that now threatens to complicate preparations for this year’s local polls.

The allegations center on claims that during the 2022 local elections, Kim Byung-kee — who served as secretary of the Seoul party nomination committee — was aware that an aide to DPK lawmaker Kang Sun-woo had received 100 million won ($69,200) in cash from Kim Kyung, then a prospective city council candidate, but failed to intervene.

The controversy escalated after media reports on Monday disclosed audio recordings related to the case. Kim stepped down from his post the following day.

Kim said the growing controversy had reached a point where it risked damaging the party as a whole.

“I concluded that remaining in this position would inevitably become a burden on the DPK and on the Lee Jae Myung administration,” Kim said, adding that he could not allow the issue to distract from the party’s broader agenda.

Party leaders moved quickly to prevent the fallout from spreading further, but avoided framing the case as an isolated lapse. DPK leader Jung Chung-rae ordered an internal ethics review, emphasizing that allegations involving money and nominations undermine the party’s credibility.

“Once allegations of money tied to nominations surface, this is no longer something the party can simply overlook,” he told reporters. “It must be addressed clearly and transparently.”

The issue has attracted intense scrutiny because the candidate at the center of the allegations was reportedly granted a sole nomination despite falling under the party’s so-called “no-exceptions” cutoff rules. At the time, the party had pledged to bar multi-home owners from running, presenting the rule as a strict standard that would be applied uniformly. Critics now question whether that pledge was honored in practice.

Kang Sun-woo, then the nominee for minister of gender equality and family, brushes back her hair during a confirmation hearing of the National Assembly’s Gender Equality and Family Committee at the National Assembly, Seoul, July 14, 2025. Newsis

Opposition leaders have seized on the case as evidence of what they describe as double standards within the ruling party. People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok delivered one of the sharpest attacks during a year-end party event on Wednesday.

“That sole nomination certificate was effectively a cash receipt for 100 million won,” Jang said, calling for a “swift and thorough investigation.”

“If this is not evidence, then what is?”

Jang also urged investigators to examine whether Kim played what he described as a “covert enabling role” in the nomination process, arguing that the case should be handled with the same rigor applied to previous probes involving opposition parties.

“There is no reason to apply different standards,” he said. “The same rules must apply to everyone.”

The episode has prompted comparisons to the 2021 DPK convention cash-for-votes scandal involving former party deputy secretary-general Lee Jung-geun, which began as an individual corruption case before expanding to implicate senior party leadership.

The sensitivity is heightened by the fact that the DPK’s 2022 local election campaign was overseen by President Lee Jae Myung, who at the time served as the party’s chief election committee chair.

Inside the DPK, unease is growing over the timing of the allegations. With the June local elections less than half a year away, party lawmakers privately warn that lingering doubts about nomination fairness could undermine campaign preparations, regardless of the outcome of ongoing investigations.

Party officials say they will cooperate with both internal reviews and external probes. Police have consolidated multiple complaints and opened a centralized investigation, pushing the case beyond the party’s internal disciplinary process.