Democratic Party must offer policies, vision to youth and women who turned away in local elections

Young people showed a cold response to the Democratic Party in the recent June 3 local elections, with a noticeable departure of young women who had previously supported the party. Nam In-soon, a four-term lawmaker and former head of the National Assembly's Steering Committee, and Mo Kyung-jong, the party's national youth committee chairman, stressed the need for the party to focus on young and female voters in the upcoming August 17 convention.

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I think it was treated as a variable of political calculation, such as the advantage or disadvantage of the rules, rather than looking at the essence of youth representation.

Mo, 37, lamented the failure to introduce a "Youth Supreme Council member" position, suggesting it was treated as a political calculation rather than a genuine effort to represent young people. He observed that young people are moving from distrust to indifference towards the Democratic Party. "If we've only dealt with youth issues in terms of risk management, we now need to show the image of a ruling party that proactively finds and solves youth agendas," Mo stated.

The Democratic Party's Youth Committee plans to hold town hall meetings during its national tour to gather young people's voices and deliver them to the party leader candidates. "Candidates for party leader and supreme council members should have opportunities to answer the questions, distrust, indifference, and misunderstandings that young people have," Mo added.

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If we've only dealt with youth issues in terms of risk management, we now need to show the image of a ruling party that proactively finds and solves youth agendas.

Nam, a former standing representative of the Korean Federation of Women's Organizations, noted that while gender equality has been a traditional strength of the Democratic Party, this has weakened recently. She believes the party has sometimes avoided the issue amidst rising gender conflicts. "Young women in their 20s and 30s have significantly supported the Democratic Party's existing policy direction, but this has weakened in the last presidential and local elections," Nam diagnosed.

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I think there was an attitude of avoidance as gender conflicts became prominent.

She contrasted the focus of an opposition party's convention, strategizing against the government, with that of a ruling party's convention, which should focus on who will work with the government to solve problems. "I hope we show a vision that prioritizes issues facing young people and women in their 20s and 30s, such as housing, jobs, and safety, and pursues them," Nam urged.

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I hope we show a vision that prioritizes issues facing young people and women in their 20s and 30s, such as housing, jobs, and safety, and pursues them.