Chung Jin-suk Criticizes 'Yoon-Again Nominations,' Cites Lack of Party Leadership Principles

Ahead of the local elections scheduled for June, the People Power Party's nomination process is facing controversy with the emergence of the term 'Yoon Suk-yeol nominations.' Chung Jin-suk, former Chief of Staff to the President, criticized the party leadership for failing to establish clear nomination criteria. He pointed to the selection of Choo Kyung-ho, a candidate indicted on charges of 'engaging in important martial law duties,' as a metropolitan mayor candidate and questioned his own exclusion from nominations by asking, 'If candidate Choo Kyung-ho can be nominated, why can't I?' Chung then shifted the 'joint responsibility for martial law' criticism directed at him towards the ruling party and its leadership, asserting that the group jointly responsible for the downfall of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration should be the then-ruling party and its leadership. He also retaliated against candidates Kim Tae-heum and Oh Se-hoon, who had criticized his candidacy, by stating they were 'people who easily obtained the positions of governor and mayor thanks to former President Yoon Suk-yeol.'

Following Chung Jin-suk's criticism of the party leadership over the nomination issue, some candidates raised their voices in opposition. Kim Tae-heum, the People Power Party's candidate for governor of South Chungcheong Province, who had previously stated he would defect from the party if Chung were nominated, announced he was indefinitely postponing his candidate registration. Kim stated, 'It is not in line with public common sense for someone who served as former President Yoon Suk-yeol's last chief of staff to be nominated this time.' The People Power Party leadership declared that Chung Jin-suk's nomination issue fell under the jurisdiction of the Nomination Management Committee. As the Nomination Management Committee also failed to reach a conclusion, the controversy over 'Chung Jin-suk's nomination' continued.