Candidate for the Democratic Party of Korea leadership Park Chan-dae announced 10 key pledges for political and party reform, including the introduction of a citizen recall system for lawmakers on the 15th. Amid fierce competition with Democratic Party candidate Jeong Cheong-rae for reform, this appears to be a strategy aimed at appealing to the party's rights members with differentiated institutional pledges.
On the same day, Park held a press conference at the National Assembly and emphasized, "Despite lawmakers being representatives elected by the people, they have always been the subject of distrust and criticism. Power that is not checked is destined to decay," adding, "We will introduce the citizen recall system that allows the people to directly remove the badges of rotten lawmakers."
Park raised his voice, particularly stating, "Can we leave lawmakers who indulge in power without checks, commit corruption, and even participate or sympathize with insurrections as they are?"
The citizen recall system is a mechanism that allows voters to remove elected public officials, including lawmakers, during their term through a vote. Currently, a resident recall system is in place for local government heads and local lawmakers, but there is a push to expand this to include lawmakers. While the citizen recall system can serve as a means for the public to monitor public officials, there are arguments that it may be misused as a tool for political strife or lead to administrative instability, so caution is advised.
Pointing out the limitations of the existing resident recall system, Park vowed to completely overhaul it by easing the criteria for recall voting petitions, realistic criteria for voting validity, and introducing nationwide recall voting including proportional representatives. He also stressed, "Though it has been in effect for a long time, I will significantly lower the criteria for the 'resident recall system for local government heads' that many might not even know about, thereby normalizing the people's right to check."
Under the current resident recall system, if more than one-third (33.3%) of the voters in a given area vote and a majority among them agree to the recall, the local lawmaker or head of a local government can be removed. However, due to strict requirements, the actual cases of recall are very few. According to a report from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 'current status of resident recalls' in February, since the first introduction of the resident recall system in 2007, a total of 147 cases have been requested until last year, with only 2 cases approved for voting.
The citizen recall system is also one of the political reform tasks proposed by President Lee Jae-myung during his term as the leader of the Democratic Party. In a representative speech to negotiating groups in the National Assembly last February, President Lee stated, "I will strengthen direct democracy so that the people's will of sovereignty is regularly reflected in state affairs," and added, "As a first step, I will introduce the 'citizen recall system for lawmakers.'"
Seven bills on 'laws proposed through citizen recall' have already been introduced in the 22nd National Assembly. The core content involves requirements that the criteria be 'one-fourth or one-third or more of the total number of voters eligible for recall and a majority of the total valid votes.' Candidate Park is in favor of creating new legislation to promote this.
In addition to the citizen recall system, Park presented political reform pledges including the restoration of local party organizations, reform of the tax credit for political donations, establishment of a permanent ethical committee in the National Assembly, and mandatory registration of non-public opinion polls and enhancing regulations on similar organizations.
As part of the party reform agenda, he promised to reflect party member evaluations in nomination reviews, introduce a system for party member approval of strategic nominations, expand public financing of internal elections (expand election cost support, establish refund criteria based on voting rate), increase public access to full membership meetings, and build a digital party platform.
Regarding the party member approval for strategic nominations, he explained, "Strategic nominations are a strategic decision of the party leadership for electoral victory, but to candidates and supporters who have been preparing to run for a long time, it can be seen as an ill-timed parachute. It is a system that can provide those who must yield with a reason to 'understand and support' the party leadership's strategic decisions."
He also spoke about the construction of a digital party platform, stating, "Can we only talk about one-person, one-vote for delegates and party members and continuous participation in decision-making?" He promised to create a platform by the next local elections where party members can participate in online meetings, voting, and real-time result aggregation.
He outlined a legislative roadmap for fulfilling his pledges. On the 16th, he plans to propose an amendment to the party law encompassing the legal basis for a party with party member sovereignty and the restoration of local party organizations, and also propose amendments to the Public Official Election Act, Political Fund Act, and National Assembly Act to initiate institutional innovation.
Park emphasized, "I will become a party leader who responds even faster to the demands of the people and honors the needs of party members like the sky."