Meaning of the result of the Seoul-Busan mayoral elections

The mayoral elections in Seoul and Busan, the two largest cities of Korea, on April 7, ended in a landslide victory for the main opposition People Power Party (PPP). Mayor Oh Se-hoon of Seoul won 2,798,575 votes (58% of the total) over the running Democratic Party Candidate Mme. Park Young-sun who collected 1,907,336 votes (33.67%).
In Busan, the second largest city in Korea, opposition PPP Candidate Park Hyung-joon won, collecting a total of 961,576 votes (62.67%), over the ruling DP contender, Kim Young-chul, who collected only 528,135 votes (34.42%). It was almost a double-score win for the PPP.

The two elections in the largest cities of Korea bore many meanings, a stern warning against the ruling camp over the so-called ‘one-sided’ rule of the country. To the opposition camp and the people in general in Korea, the voters gave a clear message, “Anyone trying to disregard the opinion of the people banking on the election victory will be severely punished!”
In the opinion of many people in Korea, the main cause of this eye-opening situation is attributed to the failure on the part of the ruling Democratic Party as well as President Moon Jae-in in correctly viewing the result of the last National Assembly elections.

On the occasion of the last National Assembly elections on April 4, the total valid number of votes were 28,741,408, which were shared by the Democratic Party with 14,345,425 followed by the PPP with 11,915,277 and others who all won negligible number of votes.
However, due to the new way of vote-counting and seat-sharing, the ruling party collected 174 seats (58%) out of the total number of seats. The PPP got only 101 seats (33.6%) seats due to the new way of seat-sharing.
The winner Democratic Party was over-joyed and tried to ‘rule’ the country all but one-sidedly overlooking the actual share of votes with the main opposition PPP which, as was shown above, were 14,345,425 (Democratic Party) and 11,915,277 (People Power Party).
Computed on the basis of the number of votes won, the main opposition party must have been given many more of the seats at the National Assembly.

Making the situation even worse is the so-called Doksik (monopolizing) of the chairmanship of the Standing Committees at the National Assembly. Instead of sharing the chairmanships, the ruling Democratic Party committed the folly of Doksik and literally captured all the chairmanship of the total 17 standing committees of the National Assembly.
This is still another cause of the humiliating defeat suffered by the ruling Democratic Party.
The Korea people, the voters in particular, today are truly those who should be reckoned with, and this must be borne in the mind on the part of all the politicians in Korea, especially those in power!
The election results of Seoul and Busan were sheer warning against the ruling camp against its lopsided ‘push-push’ posture on everything turning a blind eye to the repeated warnings given by the people as well as by the opposition camp against a number of policies carried out by the ruling camp and government, which in the eyes of the conservative political leaders and people together with the middle-of-the-roaders.

It was particularly so in the case of the ruling camp which was largely viewed to be overly pro-North Korean at the sacrifice of relations and friendship with the United States and other members of the Free World, including Japan.
The Korean people in the South are traditionally freedom-loving like the U.S. and Japan, and do not share the dictatorial policies of North Korea or other countries who share or sympathize with the similar values with Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea.
On the result of the Seoul-Busan mayoral elections, leading Korean-language daily, Chosun Ilbo, published an interesting column article on May 1.
Written by Columnist Kang Chun-suk, the article gave a stern warning to the Korean government and the ruling camp. It praised Viet Nam who always gives a piece of her mind to the big neighbor country, China.

Excerpts from the article where it cited follow:
China cannot bully Vietnam as the latter says what she wants after she has done things which she thinks are right.
In the face of COVID-19 woes, there have appeared three different countries: (1) countries who have secured enough vaccines and who therefore are now leaving from the troubled countries of the world; (2) countries who have not secured vaccines but who have hopes thanks to close friendship and cooperation with their friendly countries who have vaccines; (3) countries who are poor and are at the end of the waiting list for the vaccines. 
The Republic of Korea (south) belongs to the third group of countries. 
Securing of the life-saving vaccines is not a matter of having money or not. The ability of judgement on the part of the leadership of the country is the center of the question.
It if the government blames the U.S. and other advanced countries for ‘not sharing the vaccines’ it only makes Korea look more miserable. Furthermore, more mistakes were made when China was ‘praised to the skies.’   
There are things the leader of a country should do and want to do. If the leader should confuse with the order of priority and preference, the country comes into the state of danger. Division of power among the administration, legislation and judiciary should be respected fully. The National Assembly has fallen into the state of a lawbill-making machine of the majority party and the Central Election Management Committee (originally and properly the ‘watchdog for the sake the fair elections’), has fallen into the state of an ‘unfair judge.’   

The government has lost the ability of a self-control when there was something it wanted to do. The Prosecution and other law enforcement agencies have become ‘private soldiers’ of those in power. The court now under the control of people in power has degenerated into a ‘bullet-proof jacket’ of those in power. If the ‘abnormalized’ National Assembly is to recover the normalcy, ‘abnormal’ means of doing it may become necessary in the future. It would bring the repetition of abnormal practices. 
The leader of a country should be able to see the future of the country and make preparations for it with a foresight. However, come comes from such a noted statesman as Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom in the 1920s when he foresaw the advent of Adolf Hitler viewing the political confusion in Germany.
A leader passes his test when he correctly sees the past and the state of things at present. If anyone wishes to become one, one should be able to put off things that are not of the first priority in order to take of the things that are more urgent.
There are things that three different things for a national leader: things that she can do, thing he cannot do, and things he must not do.
The most foolish thing to do is to ask President Joe Biden to follow the North Korea policies of his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.
The late former Chairman Kim Il-sung of the North Korean regime (now grandfather of incumbent Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea today) visited China 40 times and of them two occasions were very special. One of them was his visit to China in May 1950 shortly before North Korea’s starting of the Korean War on June 25, 1950. Kim Il-sung discussed with the then Chairman Mao Tse-tung of the Chinese Communist Party on Kim’s invasion of the ROK which he carried out in less than two months thereafter.
After the fall of Saigon, Kim again visited China in April 1975. Kim Il-sung met with Mao Tse-tung, Chou En-lai and Teng Shao-ping. Then he told them, “If China helps us, things to lose is the 38th parallel (ROK-NK boundary) and things to gain is the national reunification of Korea.” In effect, Kim asked China for military support in invading the ROK for the unification of the Korean peninsular by means of force.
Millions of the Korean people died north and south during the Korean War (1950-3) but the situation has changed nothing as far as Kim Il-sung was concerned.
At the time, China was interested in the improvement of relations with the United States, and Kim Il-sung failed to win the consent of China.

on June 25, 1950.
How different would be the grandson of the late former Chairman Kim Il-sung from his grandpa?
There is a sea shared by Vietnam, China and the Philippines.
China calls it South China Sea, Vietnam calls it Sea of Vietnam, and the Philippines must call it Sea of the Philippines. This is an area where the conflicting interests are shared by many different countries, including the U.S., China, Vietnam and other member countries of ASEAN.
Vietnam is considered the only ASEAN country who is not cowered by China’s bluffing.
If China tries to bluff Vietnam with a large warship, Vietnam bravely stood against China even with a small warship. Vietnam never succumbs to anyone.  
However, Vietnam never means China by name. She never gives China shame. Vietnam draws a clear line between China and herself.
Thanks to this attitude on the part of Vietnam, China appears to be careful not to treat or hand Vietnam as she pleases.
If a country, under the pretext of maintaining ‘peace,’ 
should try to solely bank on an ‘appeasement policy,’ being afraid of standing face to face with a country who makes an unreasonable demand, the country would become a totally ‘naked woman’ in the face of a rapist. Vietnam has been treating China with wisdom and guts. South Korea is on the contrary when treating North Korea and China.
What will be the verdict of the world between the two countries?
The question needs no answer. Vietnam is the winner!