Cho Seung-rae, secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Korea, said the party is still weighing whether to nominate Kim Yong, a former deputy head of the party-affiliated Democratic Research Institute, for an upcoming by-election, but noted that internal sentiment is leaning negative.
Speaking on CBS Radio’s “Park Seong-tae’s News Show” on Tuesday, Cho said the party is preparing strategic nominations for the by-elections based on three principles: recruiting strong outside candidates, selecting promising party talent, and bringing in heavyweight figures who are currently outside the National Assembly.
“The key is that we are at a stage of broadly reviewing how each candidate could affect the election and their chances of winning,” he said.
Cho said views inside the party are split over Kim, who has said he wants to run in the Gyeonggi area. Cho said some argue Kim deserves political consideration as a victim of what they describe as a fabricated indictment by “political prosecutors,” while others say his nomination would not meet public expectations.
“We are looking at it comprehensively,” Cho said. “At this point, negative views are stronger than positive ones.”
Cho also addressed speculation that Ha Jung-woo, the presidential office’s senior secretary for artificial intelligence, could run in Busan’s Buk-gu Gap district. Cho said Ha’s stance has become more flexible compared with his initially rigid response.
“We are making last-minute efforts to bring him in,” Cho said. “Only his decision remains, and we are expecting it.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.