Democratic Party's 'First-Term Trio' Park Jae-ho, Choi In-ho, and Jeon Jae-su Surviving in Busan

Park Jae-ho (Nam-gu Eul), Choi In-ho (Saha Gap), and Jeon Jae-su (Bukgangseo Gap), who were elected as candidates of the Democratic Party of Korea in Busan. (From left)
Photo by each candidate

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea achieved a landslide victory in this general election, but struggled in Busan, falling behind the United Future Party.

Among Busan's 18 constituencies, only three first-term lawmakers?Park Jae-ho (Nam-gu Eul), Choi In-ho (Saha Gap), and Jeon Jae-soo (Bukgangseo Gap)?survived.

Lawmakers Kim Young-chun (Jin Gap), who was running for a fourth term, Kim Hae-young (Yeonje), and Yoon Joon-ho (Haeundae Eul) were defeated.

The Democratic Party had won 5 seats in Busan in the previous general election and increased their seats to 6 by winning in Haeundae Eul during the 2018 by-election, but this time their seats were halved.

The United Future Party, which had secured 12 seats in Busan during the 20th general election, won 15 seats this time.

All three surviving incumbent lawmakers won by narrow margins of less than 2,000 votes and less than 2 percentage points in vote share.

Park secured 41,005 votes (50.5%), narrowly defeating United Future Party lawmaker Lee Eon-ju, who received 39,575 votes (48.7%), by just 1,430 votes (1.8 percentage points).

Choi also won a close rematch against United Future Party candidate Kim Cheok-su.

Choi received 39,875 votes (50.0%), beating Kim Cheok-su, who garnered 39,178 votes (49.1%), by 697 votes.

The difference in vote share was only 0.9 percentage points, making it an extremely close race.

Jeon obtained 48,733 votes (50.5%), surpassing United Future Party candidate Park Min-sik, who received 46,795 votes (48.5%).

Jeon won his fourth contest against Park, evening their overall record at 2 wins and 2 losses.

Jeon lost to Park in the 18th and 19th general elections but achieved back-to-back victories in the last two elections.

The "Surviving Trio" were all first-term lawmakers elected together in the 20th general election and are considered representative "pro-Roh politicians" of Busan, having shared political fortunes with former President Roh Moo-hyun.

All of them have experience working as secretaries in the Blue House during the Roh Moo-hyun administration.

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