The official election campaign for the general election on April 10 began on March 28. Starting from the Seoul metropolitan area, the ruling and opposition parties started their election campaigns in earnest, calling for "judgement.”

The ruling People’s Power Party (PPP) called voters to judge Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and Cho Kuk, leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP). PPP’s interim leader Han Dong-hoon said, “We must stop the criminal forces from dominating good citizens," and added, "Please join forces with us to judge Lee and Cho.”

The DPK held a launching ceremony in Yongsan, Seoul, where the presidential office is located, and chanted, “Let’s judge the current regime.” DPK’s leader Lee said, "President Yoon Suk-yeol is the one who made Korea regress in two years," adding, "Judging the Yoon administration is the starting point for normalizing Korea and rebuilding people's lives."

Such “judgement” competition is not irrelevant to the characteristics of the upcoming general election. Despite the election being held in a period of great transition after industrialization and democratization, the political sphere failed to meet the demands of the times. In fact, the general election was criticized for having no substance, stoking up hate, and being an extension of the last presidential election. This is because “judgement” is the only option for the ruling and opposition parties rather than vision and hope. However, the election in the third year of the president’s term in office tends to be retrospective. It is inevitably held as a midterm evaluation of the regime, and even if the responsibility for the results is taken, the weight of the president and the ruling party is by no means lighter compared to the opposition parties.

Currently, various opinion polls have shown a stronger sentiment to judge the regime. According to a survey on the nature of the April 10 general election conducted by Gallup Korea from March 19 to 21, among 1,001 people aged 18 and over nationwide, 51 percent had a negative opinion about the government while 36 percent had a positive opinion. The PPP, which was expected to win a landslide victory due to the DPK’s nomination scandal, has been struggling due to the deviation of the moderate. Among centrists, the response to judge the regime (58 percent) was 7 percentage points higher than the overall average. The root cause is the maladministration of Yoon Suk-yeol's regime, including the appointment of former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, a suspect in the investigation into the death of Marine Corporal Chae Su-geun, as ambassador to Australia and the controversy over the price of spring onions. The conflict between the medical circle and the government is also getting serious due to the lack of communication by Yoon who is obsessed with the size of medical school admissions. Nevertheless, the ruling camp is defying the public sentiment, risking ideological warfare.

The DPK, which has only been chanting "anti-Yoon Suk-yeol," will also face harsh judgement if it fails to come up with an alternative to the government's maladministration. It is the responsibility of the majority party in the National Assembly to lead the agenda for people's livelihoods, present solutions to inter-Korean relations, and recognize the severity of future values, such as the climate crisis and low birth rate. However, the DPK is arrogantly claiming to secure "200 seats" in the National Assembly and "victory," as if they are convinced that a new world will open up if Yoon steps down, which is a clear misjudgement. The indicators show that the people want to judge the ruling party but they are unable to open their mind to the DPK. The rise of the Korea Rebuilding Party alone reveals it.

The ruling and opposition parties are just drawing their sword at each other, but voters must look at the world after the election of judgement. This is because the general election is the stage where we, voters, elect political representatives to replace us, and the results of the election can change our life and our hard reality. Workers (the Yellow Envelope Law) and farmers (the Grain Management Law) rejected by the president have long since been pushed to the brink, and women and young people have become “erased” citizens under the Yoon administration. Democracy and fairness have been swept away by the whirlwind of meatballism, leaving only a tattered flag. We, the sovereign people, must stand up for them. It is time to show that voters do not choose political representatives if they cannot see a vision for the future from them no matter how the society is ripe with contradictions. The next 13 days should be fully the time for voters.