Governor Won Hee-ryong: "The 1% Presidential Support Rate Will Change"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters (Jeju) Reporter Park Chang-won] Won Hee-ryong, Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, who is actively pursuing a presidential bid through central media but remains at around 1% support, expressed his views on his low approval rating during the Jeju Provincial Council's administrative questioning.

However, during this administrative questioning period, he refused to answer repeated questions from ruling party lawmakers regarding the timing of his presidential candidacy and the possibility of resigning from the governor position.

On the 19th, at the 4th plenary session of the 2nd regular meeting of the 389th Jeju Provincial Council, Governor Won expressed confidence that his approval rating could change significantly in the future.

Assemblyman Hyun Gil-ho (Democratic Party, Jeju-si Jocheon-eup) asked, “Former President Roh Moo-hyun's approval rating was below 1% during his election, and (Governor Won) also started with single-digit support when preparing for the last local election and has now reached this position. So, I think the current approval rating is not important,” but added, “The approval rating does not seem to be as high as expected. Does the governor see any particular reason for this?”

In response, Governor Won said, “There are various reasons, but first, the entire opposition party I belong to has not yet received the public's expectations and attention, and within it, a full-fledged competition among leading candidates has not yet formed. These two factors are areas that can change dramatically depending on future circumstances, and I believe that once someone is selected as the opposition's representative candidate through a primary, the race will start at about 5:5 or 4:6.”

Assemblyman Hyun asked again, “As a resident of the province, I ask this with regret. A certain daily newspaper published a column stating that Governor Won has said a lot about how to win the presidential election, but there has been no mention of what he plans to do as president or why he wants to become president. Is this due to the limitations of being a current local government head?”

Governor Won replied, “That is partly true, but it is not the fundamental reason. Everything has its time, stages, and conditions. Official election campaigning for the presidential election can only begin from July 9 next year according to the National Election Commission's schedule. Before that, expressing one's political views and convictions is possible as minimal preparatory activity, but exceeding that would immediately violate election laws.”

Regarding the possibility of a by-election for the Jeju governor position due to his presidential bid and whether it can be accepted as a given that he will run for president, Governor Won said, “As an elected governor, it is the minimum duty not to cause a by-election with some term remaining,” but left room by adding, “There will be a time and conditions to give an exact answer.”

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