Jung Chung-rae of the Democratic Party of Korea visited Ganghwa in Incheon with Rep. Park Chan-dae, who competed against him for the party leadership at last year's national convention. He praised Park, who is running for Incheon mayor, as his "political partner," signaling a push to target tough districts for the Democratic Party.
On the morning of the 11th, Jung and the party leadership visited the Ganghwa Peace Observatory with Incheon regional chapter heads, bowed in silence at the memorial altar, and then held an on-site supreme council meeting. In his opening remarks, Jung mentioned Rep. Park Chan-dae, who was nominated as the sole Democratic Party candidate for Incheon mayor on the 4th, saying, "Sitting next to me today is my political partner, Rep. Park Chan-dae. It's good to see you. Are you working hard?" Park replied, "Yes, I am working hard." Ahead of the local elections, Jung openly coordinated with Park, signaling a move to support the Incheon mayoral race.
Jung also praised Park while recalling the period when Lee Jae-myung was party leader. Jung said, "It reminds me of when I served as a supreme council member with Rep. Park," adding, "At the time, Supreme Council Member Park Chan-dae led the committee to counter prosecutorial dictatorship, and I watched him stand firm in fighting the Yoon Suk-yeol prosecution dictatorship government." He added, "We were comrades who fought together against the oppression of the opposition and the removal of political rivals."
After the on-site supreme council meeting, Jung visited Daeryong Market to meet merchants and check on livelihoods. Daeryong Market is known as a traditional market formed by resettled displaced people. Jung walked the market alleys with Park, shaking hands with merchants, taking commemorative photos, and communicating. He encouraged merchants by personally buying pine mushrooms, gim (dried seaweed), and specialty turnip kimchi from Ganghwado.
Jung boarded a fishing boat with Park and joined a shrimp-fishing operation. Jung said, "During the roughly hour-long shrimp fishing with fishers, the issue we heard about most was the operational boundary line," adding, "We understand the line is drawn for security reasons, but in reality the prime fishing grounds are beyond the boundary, so fishers have to detour, and there were many complaints about higher fuel costs and time burdens."
He added, "Because this is an issue directly tied to fishers' livelihoods that is hard to grasp without coming on-site, there needs to be a review through consultations with the relevant ministries." Park also said, "Through discussions with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Ministry of National Defense, there needs to be a reasonable adjustment within a scope that does not harm security," continuing the on-site livelihood outreach.
Right after the operation, Jung told reporters, "Since there is an assessment that the Lee Jae-myung administration is giving the public a sense of efficacy, we heard that the mood is improving in Ganghwa as well," adding, "If we do our best, there will be good results." Park said, "In the 2018 local elections, the Democratic Party won in most counties and districts in Incheon, but not in Ganghwa," adding, "We hope to achieve good results in Ganghwa in this local election."
Ganghwa, where the day's schedule took place, elected conservative party candidates in both the 21st and 22nd general elections, and is considered a representative tough district for the Democratic Party. As it borders North Korea and has a strong conservative bent, the analysis is that the Democratic leadership is personally visiting to shore up public sentiment.