"Pop" goes one problem, then another.
The Democratic Party has found itself in a bind over a string of setbacks emerging from Suncheon, South Jeolla Province.
Before the shockwaves had even subsided from Democratic Rep. Kim Moon-soo — whose constituency is Suncheon — calling public servants "lackeys," Son Hun-mo, the Democratic Party's preliminary candidate for Suncheon mayor, has landed at the center of controversy. His campaign staff face suspicions of accepting money, and it has now emerged that he previously defended child and juvenile sex offenders.
Son had branded himself a "human rights lawyer," but multiple media outlets have reported that he defended illegal filming offenders and handled cases in which women from Suncheon were the victims, triggering further fallout.
According to reporting by the Seoul Economic Daily on Nov. 11, Son, a former lawyer, was confirmed to have represented defendants between 2018 and 2021 in cases involving the distribution and possession of child and juvenile sexual exploitation material, as well as the indecent assault of a minor.
After recent media reports surfaced, Suncheon residents raised their voices, saying, "The problem is that he defended the perpetrators in cases where the victims were Suncheon's daughters and wives, while packaging himself as a human rights lawyer."
Lee Seong-su, the Progressive Party's preliminary candidate for Suncheon mayor, was even sharper in his criticism. "Candidate Son Hun-mo should stop being a burden to the Lee Jae-myung government and resign on his own," he demanded.
In a statement the previous day, Lee said, "The controversy surrounding Son Hun-mo, the Democratic Party's Suncheon mayoral candidate, is spiraling out of control," adding, "Following the investigation into alleged bribery by his campaign, the candidate's own record of defending sex offenders has come to light, leaving the local community in shock and outrage." He strongly called for Son's immediate resignation and for the Democratic Party's central leadership to forgo nominating a candidate for Suncheon mayor.
In response, Son's side said in explanations to the media, including the contents of a statement submitted to the Democratic Party, "In most cases, the defendants admitted their crimes, and the defense proceeded on the premise of victim recovery and settlement." He added, "In particular, the child sexual exploitation case was an individual lapse, not organized crime." He further argued, "I told the defendant I would take on the defense only if he was willing to confess all his crimes and sincerely seek the victim's forgiveness, and there was absolutely no secondary harm inflicted by the defense counsel."
Above all, he pushed back against what he called a politically motivated attack, saying, "Ahead of the election, only parts of old cases are being highlighted and distorted."
With the string of scandals in Suncheon showing signs of galvanizing "shy conservatives," attention in local political circles is now focused on how the Democratic Party's central leadership — which has recently been strictly applying past sex-offense defense records as a core yardstick for nominations — will respond.
Indeed, the Democratic Party held a closed-door Supreme Council meeting on the 7th and, accepting internal criticism that nominating attorney Lee Seung-hoon as its candidate for Seoul's Gangbuk district chief was inappropriate given his record of defending a child sex offender, designated the district a strategic electoral zone.
Immediately after the Supreme Council meeting, Lee took to social media and raised a fairness issue, saying, "Conduct a full investigation into the defense records of lawmakers and public officials with backgrounds as lawyers," and asking, "Do sex-offense defense lawyers with money and connections get nominated, (but I don't)?"
