Local election result 'half a victory,' Democratic lawmaker says as calls for party chief's resignation emerge

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Choi Min-hee said Friday that while the party had won 12 of 16 regional government head races, the failure to retake Seoul left her describing the outcome as "half a failure, half a victory."

Speaking on SBS Radio's "Kim Tae-hyun's Politics Show" that morning, Choi addressed calls at the previous day's party caucus for Democratic Party leader Jeong Cheong-rae to step down. She said lawmakers Jang Cheol-min and Im Mi-ae had focused on setting a timeline for his resignation as a matter of party management, but took issue with Jang's characterization of the result. "Lawmaker Jang used the phrase 'crushing defeat' — but didn't the Democratic Party win?" she said.

"Many of us, myself included, feel deflated and deeply disappointed that we couldn't retake Seoul. That's why I described it as half a victory," Choi said. She added that conflicting views were now inevitable within the party — with some, like lawmaker Park Ji-won, calling on Jeong to resign, while others questioned why a winning party leader should bear any responsibility at all.

Choi also pushed back against media framing of Jeong as an opponent of President Lee Jae-myung. "The press keeps casting him as anti-Lee, but the Jeong I've watched for two years was someone almost excessively loyal to the president's wishes," she said. "I don't understand where that narrative is coming from."

Asked whether Jeong would seek another term as party leader, Choi said every individual has the right to choose for themselves and that pressuring or publicly coercing him would be inappropriate. "When people talk about accountability, I'd like them to back it up with evidence," she said.