Lee Nak-yeon and Go Min-jung... Rush of Candidacies This Week from Former Blue House Officials

Prospects Before the Resignation Deadline on the 16th

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon is attending the '2020 Lunar New Year Livelihood Stabilization High-level Party-Government-Cheongwadae Council' held at the National Assembly on the 6th, delivering an opening remark. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] The candidacies of former senior aides from the Blue House and the Moon Jae-in administration are expected to be officially announced one after another this week. It is also reported that Ko Min-jung, the Blue House spokesperson who hinted at running in the general election, and Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon will resign before the 16th.

According to political circles on the 13th, Prime Minister Lee and Spokesperson Ko are expected to resign before the official resignation deadline for public officials on the 16th. Prime Minister Lee is expected to resign after the approval vote for Prime Minister nominee Chung Sye-kyun, which will take place that day, is completed. Spokesperson Ko is expected to officially announce her resignation after President Moon Jae-in’s New Year press conference on the 14th. Prime Minister Lee is anticipated to run in Jongno, the constituency of Chung Sye-kyun, while Spokesperson Ko is expected to run in either Gyeonggi Ilsan, the constituency of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye and Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mi, or Seoul Gwangjin-gu Eul, the constituency of Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae.

Besides Prime Minister Lee and Spokesperson Ko, it is analyzed that more than 70 former Blue House and Cabinet officials will run in this general election. Former Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Han Byung-do (Jeonbuk Iksan Eul), former Senior Secretary for Jobs Jung Tae-ho (Seoul Gwanak Eul), former Senior Secretary for Civil Society Lee Yong-seok (Seoul Yangcheon Eul), former Senior Secretary for Public Communication Yoon Young-chan (Gyeonggi Seongnam Jungwon), and former Senior Secretary for Social Innovation Ha Seung-chang (Seoul Jung-Seongdong Eul) are all preparing to run.

Former Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination Yoon Gun-young is likely to run in Seoul Guro Eul, which became vacant due to Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun’s decision not to run. Former spokesperson Park Soo-hyun plans to run in Chungnam Gongju-Buyeo-Cheongyang, and former spokesperson Kim Ui-gyeom plans to run in Jeonbuk Gunsan. Former Director of the Press Office Kwon Hyuk-ki is preparing to run in Seoul Yongsan, former Secretary for Civil Affairs Kim Young-bae in Seoul Seongbuk Gap, former Secretary for Local Autonomy Development Kim Woo-young in Seoul Eunpyeong Eul, and former Secretary for Social Policy Min Hyung-bae in Gwangju Gwangsan Eul are also preparing for the general election. Among current senior aides, economic secretary Joo Hyung-chul from Daejeon is known to have a high possibility of running.

Due to the large-scale candidacies of former senior aides from the Blue House and the Moon Jae-in administration, there are complaints within the party that being a former aide of President Moon Jae-in will act as a premium during the primary process. A Democratic Party official said, "If the fact that they are former aides of the Moon Jae-in administration is used during the primary process, it could add more than 10 percentage points," adding, "This effect will be especially significant in the Honam region, where President Moon’s approval rating reaches 70%." There are also concerns that the ability to list experience working in the Blue House under presidents named Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, or Moon Jae-in during the election process will act as a "Moon Jae-in administration premium."

The Democratic Party is considering imposing restrictions on the use of such related experience during the primary and general election processes in light of these complaints. A Democratic Party official said, "We will finalize the policy by early next month."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.