Kim Taeho: "Yoon Seokyeol Should Step Forward and Demonstrate His Abilities... Must Be Judged on Unifying Leadership"

Kim Tae-ho, an independent lawmaker, is questioning during the National Assembly inspection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held by the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 7th of last month.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] As Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol topped the preference survey for the next presidential candidate among the opposition, independent lawmaker Kim Tae-ho said on the 3rd that he "hopes (Yoon) will run and believes he should run."

On the same day, Kim appeared on KBS 1TV's 'Sasa Geongeon' and said, "Prosecutor General Yoon also needs to demonstrate his capabilities. The perspective on history, the view of the world, and the unifying leadership that can overcome the divided public sentiment and factional logic of division must be evaluated by the people."

Regarding Yoon ranking third in the preference for the next presidential candidate, he said, "This is a very good thing," adding, "People seem to consider Prosecutor General Yoon within the scope of the opposition. The fact that such a person is being evaluated means that, ultimately, it will create great synergy as a political force for us and later for the opposition."

Kim also criticized the Democratic Party's decision to amend its party constitution to field candidates in next year's by-elections for the Seoul and Busan mayoral offices, saying, "In this case, the by-elections were held due to particularly painful and difficult-to-express issues in Busan and Seoul," and added, "I see the Democratic Party's intention to nominate candidates even by changing the party constitution as moral suicide."

He continued, "It can be interpreted that future Democratic Party candidates will not seriously consider issues of fairness, morality, and ethics," and said, "This is truly regrettable."

Meanwhile, recent poll results showed Prosecutor General Yoon rising to first place among opposition candidates for the next presidential election.

According to a survey conducted by Realmeter on behalf of OhmyNews from the 26th to the 30th of last month, targeting 2,576 adults nationwide, Yoon's preference rating rose by 6.7 percentage points from the previous month to 17.2%. Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yeon and Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung tied for first place with 21.5% each.

The margin of error for the two surveys is ±1.9 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, refer to the Realmeter or the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission websites.

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