6·3 지방선거, 민심의 선택은? / YTN

■ Hosts: Anchor Sung Moon-kyu, Anchor Kim Jung-jin ■ Guests: Lim Se-eun, Senior Deputy Spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea; Jung Kwang-jae, Director of the Dongyeon Political Research Institute The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content. Please refer to the broadcast for more accurate information. When citing, please specify [YTN Public Sentiment 2026]. [Anchor] Lim Se-eun, Senior Deputy Spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Jung Kwang-jae, Director of the Dongyeon Political Research Institute, will examine the public sentiment revealed in this local election. Welcome. Based on the current vote counting trends, it seems the atmosphere is one of a landslide victory for the ruling party. The atmosphere is solidifying into a scenario of a crushing defeat for the opposition party. How do you view the political significance of this election? [Lim Se-eun] It has now been exactly one year since the Lee Jae-myung administration took office. If we look at how the Lee Jae-myung administration came into being, it was born amidst a chaotic political situation marked by impeachment and an illegal state of emergency. So, although there were many chaotic aspects, the Lee Jae-myung administration went through a process of resolving the confusion and normalizing various abnormal situations. During that process, there were significant achievements, such as the KOSPI reaching 8,000. Therefore, I believe the public has presented a report card—a yardstick—for evaluating the Lee Jae-myung administration based on these results. Furthermore, since the administration still has a great many tasks ahead of it, I think this reflects the public's determination to provide more support in those areas. [Anchor] How do you view the overall situation regarding this election? [Jeong Gwang-jae] First of all, this is a local election held early in President Lee Jae-myung's term. Since it took place exactly one year after the last election in June of last year, it seems reasonable to assess that voters have given their support to President Lee Jae-myung regarding the stability of state affairs. It appears that the People Power Party anticipated from the start that this would be a considerably difficult election. With President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating high and, furthermore, various controversies arising ahead of the election regarding the leadership of the so-called Party Leader Jang Dong-hyuk and his visit to the U.S., the party's approval rating fell to only half that of the Democratic Party, leading to predictions that it would be a difficult election. The actual election results seem to have unfolded in a similar manner. Overall, it can be assessed that the argument for regime stability gained more weight than the argument for regime judgment. [Anchor] In the beginning, the situation was neck and neck at 15:1, with the People Power Party catching up significantly, but ultimately, there doesn't seem to have been any major change. In any case, the Democratic Party has managed to secure local power as well, following the trend from the last presidential election. From the perspective of the Lee Jae-myung administration, this inevitably gives significant power to state affairs, provided things end this way. That seems to be the atmosphere. [Im Se-eun] That is correct. Although it has been a year since the administration was formed, as you know, in the last local elections, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration effectively took most of the local governments. So, even though the Lee Jae-myung administration has been launched and is driving state affairs well, I believe there have been occasional instances where the central government and local governments are not in sync. I think there have been obstacles in this regard, even though state affairs could be implemented more effectively. Therefore, taking this opportunity, given that the public's evaluation of state administration over the past year is reflected in approval ratings indicating that the administration is performing well, I believe that local governments should also keep pace with the central government on issues such as balanced regional development and the development of various marginalized areas. In this regard, I have achieved significant results... (omitted) YTN Koo Soo-bon ([email protected]) ▶ Original Article : https://www.ytn.co.kr/_ln/0101_202606... ▶ Report a Tip : https://mj.ytn.co.kr/mj/mj_write.php ▣ Subscribe to YTN YouTube Channel : http://goo.gl/Ytb5SZ ⓒ YTN Unauthorized reproduction, redistribution, and use of AI data are prohibited