People Power Party chief backs Kim Jin-tae in Yangyang as governor warns of voter anger

Jang Dong-hyeok, leader of the People Power Party, visited Yangyang in Gangwon Province on the 22nd to announce tailored campaign pledges and bolster Kim Jin-tae, the incumbent governor and the party’s candidate for the post. Kim, citing sour local sentiment, urged Jang to take responsibility and resolve the situation.

Speaking at a party event at a fishing village hall in Yangyang County, Kim said he has met many voters who tell him, “I used to be with the red party, but thinking about the central party this time makes me so angry I won’t vote.”

“At first I thought I just needed to work hard,” Kim said, “but the party has to back us up to some extent.” He warned that if such voters stay home, “we really have no hope.”

Kim said there are about 300 party candidates in Gangwon Province and many feel the same way. He added that some candidates asked him to speak even more forcefully when meeting Jang.

He said that even after spending all day on the trail until his feet swell, “every time central news breaks, my heart sinks.” With 42 days left until the election, he said, candidates feel the pressure.

Kim, recalling their time together on the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, told Jang he hoped he would “go back to the great Jang Dong-hyeok of the past.”

Jang said Gangwon’s development requires a governor who has lived alongside residents and knows the province well. Taking aim at Democratic Party candidate Woo Sang-ho, Jang said Gangwon’s forests and development cannot be entrusted to a “parachute candidate” who has lived his whole life without ties to the province.

Jang credited Kim with launching the Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province and said Kim continues to fight what he called the Lee Jae-myung administration’s neglect of Gangwon, including by shaving his head in protest. He said the People Power Party would stand firmly with Kim and devote all its strength to Gangwon’s development.

The party’s tailored pledges for Gangwon include: △ linking the Seoul metropolitan area and Gangwon within about one hour by transportation △ promoting a medical artificial intelligence-based regional development project △ building a clean methanol and critical minerals-based cluster in Taebaek △ creating a medical industry cluster in Samcheok △ establishing a hydrogen-specialized complex along the east coast.