Leaders of South Korea's ruling and opposition parties issued urgent directives to suspend or minimize campaign activities for the June 3 local elections following an explosion at Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon plant.
According to the Democratic Party of Korea on Sunday, party leader Chung Cheong-rae issued an urgent instruction to candidates and campaign offices nationwide immediately after the Hanwha Aerospace accident in Daejeon, ordering them to refrain from using campaign songs and choreography. He soon followed up with an additional directive telling all candidates across the country to "halt campaigning."
Democratic Party candidates nationwide subsequently canceled or minimized their scheduled public campaign events. Jung Won-oh, the party's candidate for Seoul mayor, announced the cancellation of his Guro Digital Complex rally, saying, "It is not right to continue campaigning after hearing such heartbreaking news." He also canceled major rallies on his subsequent schedule, replacing them with discussion meetings or walking tours of traditional markets.
Chung canceled his public campaign schedule and traveled to Daejeon to visit the accident site. Speaking at a campaign event supporting candidates in North Chungcheong Province where he was attending when the accident was reported, Chung said, "While lives hang in the balance amid the flames, we cannot conduct election campaigning in the usual way." He added, "The Democratic Party will take all necessary measures to prevent such incidents from happening again."
The People Power Party did not halt campaign schedules but urged candidates nationwide to conduct campaigns in a subdued atmosphere. Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk issued an urgent directive to candidates across the country, telling them to "refrain from using campaign songs and choreography and conduct subdued election campaigning." Jang himself suspended all public campaign events and traveled to the accident site. In a Facebook post, he said, "I pray for those who tragically lost their lives in the accident and offer my sincere condolences to the bereaved families," adding, "I urge the government to do its utmost for prompt accident response and damage recovery."
Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party's Seoul mayoral candidate, who had planned to visit all 25 districts of Seoul over the remaining two days, decided to continue his existing schedule while avoiding flashy campaigning. "I feel apologetic about campaigning in this situation, but this is an important election that will determine Seoul's future," Oh said.
The Rebuilding Korea Party and the Reform Party, both making last-minute pushes to consolidate their support bases, also instructed their candidates nationwide not to use campaign songs and choreography during campaigning.
