Gong Byeong-ho "No Nomination Request from United Party... Yu Yeong-ha, Disqualified but Review Proceeding"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Gong Byung-ho, the Future Korea Party's nomination management committee chairman, stated that he has not received any calls from the United Future Party requesting nominations. Regarding lawyer Yoo Young-ho, who falls under the disqualification criteria such as 'national division,' the committee plans to proceed with the review for now.

At a briefing with reporters at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 11th, Chairman Gong said, "There has been no call from the United Future Party at all."

He explained, "Some people connected to me sent messages recommending 'very good' candidates, but there has been no formal request," adding, "We did receive a separately organized document regarding the United Future Party's recruited talents, but it was for information provision only, not a solicitation or request."

When asked if providing the materials itself was a request for consideration, he replied, "There was absolutely no such thing, and I have no intention to show any favor," adding, "The materials contained little information, just photos and titles that can be found by searching newspapers."

Regarding the statement made by Han Sun-kyo, Future Korea Party leader, in a media interview earlier that morning about pursuing integration with Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, Gong said, "There was no prior contact or consultation from Leader Han, and it is normal that there was none," adding, "The duties of the nomination committee and the party leader are different, and political decisions such as alliances, connections, or mergers with other parties depend on Leader Han's decisions."

As of the 10th, 531 applicants had applied, including lawyer Yoo Young-ho, a close aide of former President Park Geun-hye. Although Yoo falls under the disqualification criteria initially announced by the nomination committee, Chairman Gong stated that they will allow the review process to proceed for now. He said, "If someone is disqualified, the interview itself is not allowed, but due to high public interest, we cannot apply the criteria uniformly and can exercise discretion," adding, "We believe that going through the document screening and interview process, gathering the committee members' opinions, and announcing a consensus opinion will help reduce controversy."

Former tennis player Kim Eun-hee and former MBC president Kim Jae-chul, who applied for nomination after being rejected by the United Future Party and fall under the nomination exclusion criteria, will also undergo review. Chairman Gong said, "Although former President Kim and Ms. Kim Eun-hee are subject to nomination exclusion, document and interview screenings will proceed."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Among the more than 500 applicants, Chairman Gong emphasized that nearly 10% of the applicants are from the 2030 generation. He explained, "Notably, among the 531 applicants, there are two in their 20s, accounting for 1.7%, and 40 in their 30s, making up 7.5%," adding, "Combined, this amounts to 9.2%, close to 10%, indicating that unlike existing public opinion polls, there are many young people in the 2030 generation who have expectations and hopes for the liberal-right camp."

He said, "The document screening for the young people in their 30s has been completed perfectly, and there were more promising young candidates than we expected," adding, "In the future proportional representation candidate selection process, we will partially open the door to the 2030 generation and reflect the opinions of many people in the nomination committee."

As criteria for selecting young candidates, he cited youth, expertise, and combativeness. Chairman Gong said, "We focused intensively on whether they have been faithful to essential activities rather than trends, and placed considerable weight on future potential," adding, "During negotiations with the ruling party, we will also observe whether young people actively engage based on ideology, through their words, actions, and writings, grounded in the ideology and policies of the liberal-right camp."

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