SUWON — A petition on the Gyeonggi Province website calling on Governor Choo Mi-ae to leave her party, the Democratic Party of Korea, has drawn more than 10,000 signatures in three days, following an earlier petition demanding her resignation.
As of 5 p.m. on the 17th, a petition titled "Governor Choo Mi-ae, we ask that you voluntarily give up your party membership," posted on the 15th, had gathered about 12,000 signatures, according to the provincial petition website.
Petitions that collect more than 10,000 signatures during the 30-day comment period require a direct response from the governor.
"We can no longer overlook the current situation, in which the governor responsible for the country's most populous provincial government is excessively involved in national politics while leaving Gyeonggi Province behind," the petitioner wrote. "The governor's most basic duty is to look after the lives of Gyeonggi residents, secure the province's budget, and steadily manage welfare and livelihood policy."
The petitioner added: "We urge you to voluntarily give up your party membership and be reborn as a governor who serves only the people of Gyeonggi Province. Return to provincial administration and channel the capacity you are pouring into political remarks and your own political agenda into securing the province's budget and stabilizing livelihoods."
The governor has pressed ahead regardless, repeatedly stating positions on national politics through social media. On the same day, in a Facebook post targeting Kim Ji-yong, the nominee to head the new Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, the governor said Kim "played the role of a villain, serving as a henchman for the Yoon Suk-yeol camp as it subdued the Justice Ministry and dismantled the presidential office's civil affairs unit," renewing a call for the nomination to be withdrawn.
Earlier, on the 11th, a separate petition titled "We petition for the resignation of Governor Choo Mi-ae" was posted and drew controversy.
After that petition passed 30,000 signatures in five days, the provincial government responded that it asked "for residents' deep understanding of the fiscal situation the province faces" and would "do its utmost to the end to protect residents' lives and overcome the fiscal crisis." It also said it "expresses deep regret over the distortion of facts, as if the ninth elected provincial administration had deliberately cut livelihood budgets that had been properly drawn up," and closed the comment period early.
