Is Jeonbuk Politics in Crisis? Ahn Ho-young’s Hunger Strike Raises Serious Questions

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Kim Kwan-young, governor of North Jeolla Province (Jeonbuk), said he will stand with Rep. Ahn Ho-young, who began an indefinite hunger strike demanding the party’s central committee reinvestigate allegations that Rep. Lee Won-taek accepted third-party payments for alcohol and meals after Lee was selected as the Democratic Party’s nominee in the Jeonbuk gubernatorial primary.

On April 11, Kim posted a statement titled “On the Regression of Jeonbuk Politics and Rep. Ahn Ho-young’s Hunger Strike” on his social media, saying he was deeply saddened and heavy-hearted.

As the sitting governor, he wrote that he feels a profound responsibility and sorrow watching a colleague with whom he has worked on Jeonbuk’s future resort to the extreme step of a hunger strike.

He noted that, together with residents, Jeonbuk had become a place of hope—securing investments totaling 27 trillion KRW (about $20.25 billion) and preparing for the future of AI and advanced industries—but that current politics in the province now brings residents disappointment and a sense of loss rather than hope.

He warned that processes that should be fair have lost public trust and that outcomes that should be accepted are instead fueling conflict. That, he said, betrays the basic duty of politics toward residents. Politics should concern itself with residents’ lives, yet residents are now worried about politics.

He apologized to residents and said he feels a heavy responsibility as governor. Above all, he said he is deeply concerned about Rep. Ahn’s health and urged him to prioritize his well-being. He pledged to stand with Ahn until residents’ will is fully reflected.

Meanwhile, on April 10 the Democratic Party announced that Rep. Lee had been chosen as the party’s final candidate in the Jeonbuk gubernatorial primary.

In response, Rep. Ahn said the result reflected the central party’s inadequate oversight and Lee’s false explanations, and he called for the primary to be nullified. He began an indefinite hunger strike at the National Assembly to press for a reinvestigation into the allegation that Lee accepted third-party payments for alcohol and meals.

“I cannot accept a primary result stained by unfairness and wrongdoing,” Rep. Ahn said. “The Democratic Party must immediately launch a reinvestigation to restore fairness and justice.”

He said the margin of victory was only one percentage point and that false explanations that undermined the result’s legitimacy had intervened. This, he argued, was not a genuine victory but a result manufactured by deceiving the party and residents.

He called for a rigorous reinvestigation grounded in objective evidence—not a lenient probe relying on the one-sided claims of the person under investigation—and said the primary should be considered invalid until that reinvestigation is complete. He urged the party’s Supreme Council to take decisive action, including emergency discipline, and to hold those who deceived the party accountable.