[Yang Nak-gyu's Defense Club] How Did the Stars Who Challenged Entry into Yeouido Perform?

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yang Nak-gyu] The performance of retired generals who ran in the 21st National Assembly general election has been disappointing. A total of eight generals ran in this election, but only three were elected to the National Assembly. Including proportional representation, a total of five generals were placed.

Shin Won-sik, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Operations Headquarters Chief, who was nominated early by the United Future Party as a proportional representative candidate, secured a safe position by receiving number 8 on the proportional list. From the Together Citizens' Party, Kim Byung-joo, former Deputy Commander of the Combined Forces Command, secured a seat by receiving number 12 on the proportional list.

Former Deputy Chairman Shin was also nominated as a proportional representative in the 20th National Assembly but failed to enter the National Assembly. Other generals who were considered as proportional representative candidates by the United Future Party, such as Park Chan-joo, former 2nd Operations Command Commander (retired general), and Jeon In-beom, former Special Forces Command Commander (retired lieutenant general), are all classmates of Shin from the 37th class of the Korea Military Academy.

Kim Byung-joo, former Deputy Commander of the Combined Forces Command, entered the ruling party's proportional representation in the 21st National Assembly by receiving the safe number 12. Kim is known as a master of Sun Tzu's Art of War along with Kim Byung-kwan, former Deputy Commander of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command and former nominee for Minister of National Defense (Korea Military Academy 28th class). Last year, he also published a book titled "Secret Sun Tzu's Art of War."

In the Gangwon Chuncheon City, Cheorwon County, Hwacheon County, and Yanggu County district, Han Ki-ho of the United Future Party was elected with 52% of the vote. Han received 43,083 votes, defeating Jeong Man-ho of the Democratic Party, who received 38,352 votes (46%). Han, a native of Cheorwon, graduated from the Korea Military Academy's 31st class, served as the Army Education Command Commander, and retired as an army lieutenant general. He is also known as the nephew-in-law of former General Park Se-jik.

Also, Navy veteran Yoon Jae-gap of the Democratic Party was elected on his third attempt after running as an independent in the 19th general election and withdrawing mid-way in the 20th general election. He is from Haenam. He graduated from the Korea Naval Academy's 32nd class, served as Commander of the 1st Fleet and Commander of the Navy Logistics Command, and worked as an invited professor at Mokpo National Maritime University. Later, he served as a security advisor to presidential candidate Moon Jae-in, a special committee member for public communication at the Presidential Committee on Balanced National Development, and as a regional committee chair for the Democratic Party.

In the Gimhae Gap district of Gyeongnam, Min Hong-chul of the Democratic Party won and succeeded in his third term. With this, Min became the first three-term Democratic Party lawmaker in the Gyeongnam region. He graduated from Gimhae High School and Busan National University Law School and was commissioned as a military legal officer. After retiring as a brigadier general while serving as the Chief Judge of the Ministry of National Defense High Military Court, he served as a member of the 19th and 20th National Assembly.

Some candidates tasted the bitterness of defeat. They include Kim Jung-ro, former commander of the 70th Army Division (Sejong Special Self-Governing City Gap), Lee Cheol-hwi, former 2nd Operations Command Commander (Pocheon Gapyeong County), Choi Yoon-hee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Gyeonggi Osan), Hwang Ki-chul, former Chief of Naval Operations (Changwon Jinhae District), and Kim Geun-tae, former 1st Army Commander (Gongju, Buyeo, Cheongyang).

United Future Party candidate Choi Yoon-hee filed a complaint against Democratic Party candidate Ahn Min-seok for violating the Public Official Election Act during the election period. Also, former Osan Mayor Yoo Gwan-jin (82) attracted attention by shaving his head to support United Future Party candidate Choi Yoon-hee. During the election period, Hwang Ki-chul received 45.9% support. Especially, Jo Gwang-ho of the Justice Party, who ran in Changwon Jinhae, announced his intention to withdraw and pledged support for Hwang Ki-chul, emerging as a strong candidate.

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