People Power Party to Hold Primary for Busan Mayor, Moves to Contain Backlash Over 'Nomination Knife Dance'

The Financial News reported that on the 17th, the People Power Party (PPP) Candidate Nomination Management Committee decided to hold an internal primary to select the party’s candidate for Mayor of Busan. Within the PPP, the incumbent Mayor of Busan, Park Hyung-joon, and PPP lawmaker Joo Jin-woo have both declared their bids.
The party’s Candidate Nomination Committee stated that it would "conduct the selection of the Mayor of Busan candidate through a primary where experience and innovation face off in a fair contest." It added, "This primary is more than a simple candidate selection; it will be an innovative process to identify the best leadership to drive Busan’s leap forward and a new milestone in the politics of the Republic of Korea (South Korea)."
Regarding Mayor Park, the committee described him as "a proven leader who has demonstrated policy capabilities for Busan’s development, including elevating Busan into a global city and building future strategic industries." On Joo, it said he is "a symbolic candidate with a bold and youthful leadership, capable of driving generational political change and leading the transformations of the times."
When it became known that the Candidate Nomination Committee was considering cutting off Mayor Park from nomination, a major uproar broke out within the party. Mayor Park strongly protested, saying, "Cutting off an incumbent local government head and granting a single, uncontested nomination without any clear criteria is neither a winning nomination strategy nor, even less, an innovative one," and, "What Nomination Management Committee Chairperson Lee Jung-hyun is doing in the name of innovative nominations is an act that will ruin the party, nothing more or less than a reckless nomination knife dance."
His rival, lawmaker Joo, also said, "I respectfully request that a primary be held," stressing, "That is the path that will lead Busan and our party to victory."
Lawmakers from the Busan area of the People Power Party are also reported to have urged party leader Jang Dong-hyeok during their meeting to hold a primary. All 17 lawmakers whose constituencies are in Busan conveyed a joint opinion that Mayor Park should not be cut off from nomination.
After the meeting, Park Sung-hoon told reporters, "All lawmakers from the Busan area asked party leader Jang to reopen discussions on the decision made by Nomination Management Committee Chairperson Lee Jung-hyun," adding, "Leader Jang also agreed that a primary is necessary to secure victory in the Busan mayoral race."
Earlier, as part of the "innovative nominations" advocated by Nomination Management Committee Chairperson Lee Jung-hyun, the committee had cut off incumbent Governor of North Chungcheong Province Kim Young-hwan from nomination, and it was also reported to have considered cutting off Mayor Park as well.
haeram@fnnews.com Lee Haeram Reporter