Jung Chung-rae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, vowed to stake everything on winning the June 3 local elections. He also declared the nomination principles of four noes and four strengths to win the local elections.
On the 8th at the National Assembly, Leader Jung held a press conference and outlined his plans to win the local elections. This was his second press conference since taking office.
At the event, Leader Jung stressed winning the local elections. He said, "I have worked hard to keep the promises I made to the public and party members at the last party convention," listing as achievements the eradication of insurrectionary forces, completion of prosecution, judiciary, and media reforms, and realization of a one-person, one-vote system in a party of member sovereignty. He then said, "Now only the promise of winning the local elections through a nomination revolution remains."
Leader Jung explained, "The Democratic Party of Korea's overarching principle for winning the June 3 local elections is 'four-no nominations.'" The four-no nominations mean nominations with no unfair cutoffs, no unfit nominees, no parachute nominations, and no corruption. He also emphasized "four-strong nominations." The four-strong nominations mean the most democratic system nominations, the most fair member-sovereignty nominations, the most transparent open nominations, and the fastest nominations.
Leader Jung said, "As the party leader with final responsibility for the party's nomination process, all bodies that manage nomination affairs—from preliminary candidate eligibility screening and handling of objections to nomination management and reexamination—will operate without a hitch according to the established system," adding, "By additionally operating the 'Nomination Grievance Hotline' and the 'Clean Election Secret Inspection Team,' we will make every effort so that not a single person suffers unfairness."
He also said, "We will put the values of fairness and transparency first so that there are no exclusions without cause and no inexplicable eliminations," and added, "We will screen out as much as possible candidates with records of heinous crimes condemned by society and those who are corrupt."
Leader Jung emphasized, "The local elections are the first nationwide elections to be held since the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration," adding, "We will firmly back the success of the Lee Jae-myung administration by winning the local elections."
Leader Jung said he would not exercise the party leader's authority for strategic nominations in the local election nominations. However, he said that for parliamentary by-elections, he would make strategic nominations to win. He said, "Not only the Gyeyang B issue but also several by-elections are being carefully considered by the party," adding, "The goal is to win in as many areas as possible."
He also answered questions on issues other than the local elections. Regarding opposition in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee to the government plan on prosecution reform, he said, "Legislative power lies with the party, so coordination is possible," adding, "We will coordinate well behind the scenes without a fuss."