Kim Moon-soo: "Our Party's Democracy Died Last Night"
Kim Moon-soo, who was excluded as a candidate for the People Power Party's presidential nomination, strongly criticized the decision of the Emergency Response Committee on the 10th while announcing legal action.
In an emergency press conference held that morning, Kim condemned the Emergency Response Committee's disqualification of candidates, stating, "The disqualification of candidates by the Emergency Response Committee is a political coup occurring at midnight and a clear violation of party constitution."
Kim raised his voice, saying, "The Emergency Response Committee has illegally stripped away the candidacy of a candidate who was legitimately elected through the choice of the people and party members. Our party's democracy died last night."
He particularly emphasized, "The party constitution states that presidential candidates must be elected through a National Convention or National Committee. It is an undemocratic act that a committee without any authority unilaterally decided to change the candidate," asserting that this is a historical anti-democratic incident.
Kim claimed, "The party leadership had been planning to eliminate me by predetermining Hang Duk-su as the candidate before I was elected." He added, "Preparing 32 documents in just one hour at 3 AM to forcibly register Hang Duk-su as a candidate is a clear illegality."
He further stated, "I will immediately take legal and political action against the illegal and unjust candidate change," and stressed, "I will hold accountable those responsible for this situation." Additionally, he appealed for the support of his supporters, saying, "I will not stop the fight to protect liberal democracy."
Earlier, the People Power Party canceled Kim Moon-soo's candidacy early that morning and registered Hang Duk-su, who was running as an independent, as the sole candidate. Kim's camp plans to launch legal procedures, including filing a complaint and seeking a provisional injunction against the leadership's decision, claiming it is null and void.
Image source: ytn, People Power Party website capture
