![Kim Min-ju, Democratic Party of Korea candidate for Osan mayor. [Photo: Policy team, Kim Min-ju, Democratic Party of Korea’s Osan mayoral campaign]](https://contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr/image/2026/03/CP-2023-0087/image-41612f09-e4d5-4485-8d5a-20ffee441aac.jpeg)
[iNews24 reporter Kim Jang-jung] Kim Min-ju, the Democratic Party of Korea candidate for Osan mayor, issued an official statement on March 16 addressing rumors that the party would strategically nominate a candidate for the Osan mayoral race.
Kim said that party leader Jeong Cheong-rae and the Strategy and Candidate Selection Committee have repeatedly stated there will be no strategic nominations related to the local elections. She added that it is puzzling and disconcerting that talk of a strategic nomination in Osan keeps circulating despite denials from the party leadership.
She said that under party rules and enforcement guidelines, it is virtually impossible for Osan to be designated as a strategic nomination district in the June 3 local elections. \"What sense is there in debating for or against something that was effectively impossible from the start?\" she asked.
She also said that President Lee Jae-myung’s commitment to popular sovereignty and party-member sovereignty represents core values of the Democratic Party of Korea that must not be—and cannot be—shaken, stressing, \"The Osan branch must not show signs of division over this issue any longer. Division sows the seeds of defeat.\"
Kim added that she will use this episode to reflect on her own shortcomings and will focus solely on meeting more residents of Osan.
