DAEJEON — Kim Chan-sool, chief of Daejeon's Daedeok District, began an open-ended hunger strike on the 12th over the deadlock at the Daedeok District Council.
At a press conference that day, Kim said the 10th Daedeok District Council has failed to complete even the basic task of organizing its leadership more than 100 days after taking office. "I am beginning an open-ended hunger strike until the Daedeok District Council returns to normal operation," he said.
Kim said every urgent matter tied directly to residents' lives — a supplementary budget bill, emergency welfare and care services, private-sector contracting and improvements to the living environment — has come to a complete halt at the council's doorstep. "A paralyzed council means a vacuum in administration, and that pain falls entirely on the 170,000 residents of Daedeok District," he said.
The district chief said the council had publicly pledged to complete its leadership selection by Oct. 10 but failed to do so. "Why should innocent residents bear the full cost of the responsibility the council has cast aside?" he said.
Kim called on the council to respond immediately to what he described as the anger of 170,000 Daedeok residents. "The Daedeok District Council must complete its leadership organization right now and begin the legislative work on livelihood issues that has been stalled," he said.
The Daedeok District Council currently has four members from the Democratic Party of Korea and four from the People Power Party, and the two sides have repeatedly brought proceedings to a standstill as neither yields in the standoff over the election of a council speaker.