Due to the damage caused by heavy rains that have continued nationwide for three days, the Democratic Party of Korea decided on the 18th to hold the joint speech event for the Chungcheong and Yeongnam regions online at the central party office, which was originally scheduled for this weekend. However, candidate Park Chan-dae expressed regret over this decision and requested a temporary suspension of the election schedule.
Kim Jeong-ho, chair of the Democratic Party of Korea's central election management committee, announced through a notice that "the central election management committee has decided to hold the joint speech event online at the central party office."
Earlier, the Democratic Party's supreme council requested the central election management committee to convert the second interim national party member meeting's joint speeches in the Chungcheong and Yeongnam regions and counting to an online format, which has been accepted. This is a measure considering the serious damage caused by the nationwide heavy rains.
However, candidate Park Chan-dae requested to suspend the election schedule until the damage from the heavy rains is restored, instead of holding it online.
Candidate Park held an emergency press conference at the National Assembly that afternoon and said, "For the first time in 200 years, heavy rains are pouring down in Chungcheong, Honam, and Yeongnam," and added, "Delegates and party members in Chungcheong, Honam, and Yeongnam do not even have the mental space to participate in voting. In such circumstances, proceeding with the party leader election as scheduled is not the attitude of a responsible ruling party."
He then urged the leadership, "Please suspend the party leader election schedule until the heavy rains stop and we can assess the damage recovery to some extent."