Petition to Resign Closed and Some Hidden...Another Petition Targeting Choo Mi-ae Exceeds 10,000 Signers

A petition demanding that Governor Choo Mi-ae renounce her Democratic Party membership has surpassed 10,000 signers, placing it back on the agenda for an official gubernatorial response.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 17th, the petition posted on the 15th titled "I hope Governor Choo Mi-ae will voluntarily renounce her party membership" exceeded 10,000 participants as of that day, transitioning to "awaiting response" status. Under Gyeonggi Province petition procedures, a petition is established when it receives 10,000 or more votes within 30 days, and the governor must respond within 30 days of establishment.

The petitioner argued that Governor Choo is engaging in central political issues rather than focusing on Gyeonggi provincial affairs, demanding her voluntary renunciation of party membership.

This is the second time a petition directly targeting Governor Choo has surpassed the 10,000-signer threshold.

The petition posted on the 11th titled "I petition for the resignation of Governor Choo Mi-ae" broke through 10,000 signers on the 14th and reached 30,775 participants by the next day, the 15th. The original petition period was set to end on the 11th of next month, but after Gyeonggi Province posted an official response, it was converted to "response completed," and additional votes were also terminated.

According to Gyeonggi Province petition guidelines, even after a petition is established with 10,000 or more votes, participants can continue to vote within the petition period until a response is posted. However, once a response is posted, the petition procedure is completed and voting ends.

A Gyeonggi Province official at the time explained, "We judged it necessary to respond quickly because the number of petition participants was large, so a response was posted."

Subsequently, similar petitions demanding Governor Choo's resignation were posted in succession, but some were "hidden." At the time, the Gyeonggi Province petition website also posted a notice stating, "Petitions with identical content to existing answered petitions are excluded from processing."

According to Gyeonggi Province petition operational standards, such hiding measures are permissible. The province allows administrators to apply hiding measures when petitions fall under "petition exclusion criteria," which include "later submissions when identical petition content has been submitted two or more times." Items requiring highly political judgment or unclear content are also exclusion targets.

In response, a petition has emerged questioning the hiding measure itself.

The petitioner of the "[Choo Mi-ae Resignation Petition 2]" posted on the 15th raised concerns about the hiding of follow-up resignation petitions, asking, "Why do you arbitrarily judge and hide the petitions when citizens are just writing? Is it such a big deal?" The petition currently appears as ongoing on the Gyeonggi Province petition public list.

Separately, multiple petitions are proceeding on themes such as Governor Choo's resignation, political statements, and dedication to provincial affairs.

With the first resignation petition answered at 30,775 signers and the petition demanding party membership renunciation exceeding 10,000 signers, along with thousands participating in petitions questioning the hiding measures themselves, petitions surrounding Governor Choo continue to be posted on the Gyeonggi Province petition board.