Center of Democratic Party Shifts from YouTuber to President

In the Democratic Party leadership election, the central axis driving party members' sentiment has shifted within a year. Last year, when 'pro-Lee' was virtually the default, support centered on political YouTubers created differences between candidates. This time, with 'pro-Jung' differentiating as a separate political force, 'MyongSim (明心)' centered on President Lee Jae-myung became the core of the party leadership competition.

According to political circles on the 18th, the recent party leadership competition between newly elected Chairman Kim Min-seok and candidate Jung Chung-rae transcended a head-to-head race between candidates to become a three-way battle between pro-Lee (pro-Lee Jae-myung) and pro-Jung (pro-Jung Chung-rae) supporters.

The conflict fully emerged following the June 3 local elections.

Online, derisive terms emerged grouping not only opposing politicians but also YouTubers. Pro-Lee supporters used the term 'Munjoteurale-yu' combining former President Moon Jae-in, former Cho Kuk Innovation Party Chairman Cho Kuk, YouTuber Kim Eo-jun, candidate Jung, and author Yu Si-min.

The opposing side countered with 'Hangang-sae-ddong-dwae-joogilh,' grouping National Assembly members Han Jun-ho, Kang Deuk-gu, and Lee Eon-joo, then-Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, YouTubers Lee Dong-hyung and Kim Yong-min, and Assemblyman Song Young-gil.

Politicians and YouTubers were collectively recognized as a single political force. As clashes between supporters intensified, political circles revived the saying 'progressives collapse through division,' and some compared the confrontation to 'life-or-death mass brawls.'

The influence of political YouTubers was also confirmed in last year's party convention.

At that time, candidate Jung and candidate Park Chan-dae appeared successively on major political YouTube channels to appeal to party members. YouTubers with pro-Democratic Party leanings, including Kim Eo-jun, continuously offered evaluations of candidates and party issues, establishing YouTube as a major campaign venue for the party convention.

This trend continued after candidate Jung became party chairman. During the recent local elections, pro-Jung politicians engaged with supporters through major political YouTube channels, with YouTube functioning as a conduit connecting internal party political forces and members.

However, after the local elections ended and party leadership competition began, the fulcrum moving the board changed.

As competition between pro-Lee and pro-Jung supporters converged on the question of 'who will support the success of the Lee Jae-myung administration,' political distance from the president emerged as a more important judgment criterion than YouTuber support.

Chairman Kim highlighted his role as the inaugural Prime Minister of the Lee Jae-myung administration, governing state affairs alongside the president. He positioned himself as the leading representative of the pro-Lee camp by linking administrative stability and the success of the Lee administration to his party leadership challenge.

Candidate Jung also emphasized pro-Lee identity, but circumstances differed. A separate 'pro-Jung' political label and support base formed around candidate Jung, creating a structure distinguishing pro-Lee from pro-Jung.

In this process, President Lee's policy initiatives also drew attention.

Policy messages directed at Honam, identified as one of the biggest battlegrounds in the Democratic Party convention, became concrete shortly after the local elections.

President Lee presided over a national briefing on three mega-projects ahead of the convention and announced plans to promote a Honam semiconductor cluster. Subsequently, the Blue House officially announced its decision to establish a semiconductor industrial complex at the relocation site of the Gwangju military airport.

While government policy cannot be characterized as supporting a specific candidate, for Honam party members, the Lee administration's regional development vision was presented as concrete policy. With Honam emerging as the biggest battleground in the party leadership competition, the president's policy initiatives had the effect of strengthening Chairman Kim's position in the party leadership competition centered on the question 'who will create achievements with the Lee Jae-myung administration?'

In fact, the early stages of party leadership competition saw Chairman Kim and candidate Jung exchanging wins in a chaotic battle. In the Chungcheong region, Chairman Kim defeated candidate Jung by only 303 votes, and the next day in Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province, candidate Jung again led Chairman Kim. The accumulated gap between the two regions at that time was only 0.99 percentage points, prompting predictions that Honam's choice would decide the outcome.

Honam also emerged as an important political base for Chairman Kim. In late-June polling ahead of the convention, Chairman Kim led candidate Jung significantly not only among Democratic Party supporters but also in Honam.

The result was Chairman Kim's victory. Ultimately, the central pivot in this convention's party leadership competition was the president, not YouTubers.

A political circles official stated, "It is natural that the president is the center of the ruling party, and comparing the president and YouTubers regarding influence over party members is difficult to view as normal circumstances." He added, "If the conclusion of this convention is that the president defeated YouTubers, then from the perspective of a ruling party, the fact that the president and YouTuber were placed on the same scale suggests that public discourse and organization within the party failed to fulfill their roles."

전시언 기자 yourside@news-s.kr