Basic Income Party leader Yong Hye-in announced she will relocate to the Honam region for the remaining three months to personally support candidates in the June 3 local elections.
At a press briefing at the Gwangju City Council on the 10th, Yong unveiled the party’s candidate list and made the declaration.
She said that, one month after pledging three Honam priorities—completing the Jeonnam–Gwangju integration, establishing a basic-income capital, and reforming progressive politics in Honam—those goals are already beginning to take shape. “We are not a progressive party that only talks; we are a capable, small party that delivers on its promises,” she said, adding that she will now focus on renewing progressive politics in Honam.
To that end, Yong said the party will roll out a “Honam concentration strategy” for the June 3 elections. The plan calls for establishing a Honam campaign headquarters at the end of March, with Yong serving as chair. She will open an office in Dong-gu—the political heart of Gwangju—and use it as a base for campaigning across Gwangju and throughout the Honam region, including South and North Jeolla provinces.
Yong pointed to Gwangju’s 37.7% voter turnout in the 2022 local elections—the lowest in the country—as a sign that citizens who defended democracy have grown disillusioned with local politics. She attributed the decline to 38 years of one-party dominance by the Democratic Party, which she said eliminated competition and checks on power.
“If Gwangju is the city of democracy, it must move beyond single-party rule,” she said. “The Basic Income Party will act as a new icebreaker for progressive politics in Honam. Our party joined efforts to help launch Lee Jae-myung’s administration and has led on basic-income policies. We will work to realize basic-income values in the Jeonnam and Gwangju assemblies.”
The Basic Income Party nominated Park Eun-young (43), chair of the city party, as its candidate for Gwangju Dong-gu constituency 2, and selected Moon Ji-young (51), chair of the provincial party, as its proportional representative candidate for the Jeonnam provincial council.
Park said Gwangju remains a symbol of Korean democracy, but current local politics have stagnated under the Democratic Party’s long-standing dominance, repeatedly sidelining the voices of teenagers and young people. “Stagnant water rots,” she said, adding that the party will stand with alternative school classrooms ignored by the Democratic Party, with delivery workers, and with citizens who face discrimination.
Born in Namwon, North Jeolla, Park has served as a full-time activist with Gwangju Human Rights Watch, secretary of the Gwangju Alternative Education Council, chair of the Gwangju Youth Union, and co-chair of Lee Jae-myung’s Gwangju campaign in the 21st presidential election.
Her pledges include paying an education basic income to all youth in Jeonnam and Gwangju; supporting the development of a global AI industry cluster on Haenam’s Solarsido; providing regular recovery payments to revive local businesses; and enacting human-rights ordinances, including anti-discrimination legislation.
