Jeong Cheong-rae: "Ahn Cheol-soo has become a disposable firestarter... Now the unification show is over"

Oh Se-hoon Defeats Ahn Cheol-soo to Become Unified Opposition Candidate for Seoul Mayor
Jung Cheong-rae "Unification May Not Be Very Effective"

Jeong Cheong-rae, Democratic Party of Korea member. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Jeong Cheong-rae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on the 23rd, "As I feared, Ahn Cheol-soo has ultimately become a disposable kindling."

Jeong said in a post on his Facebook that day, "From the beginning, he reversed his words, and from the moment he declared his candidacy for Seoul mayor, it was a predictable disaster from his perspective. Nothing in this world works by force. This is the way of the world," he said.

He added, "When Ahn Cheol-soo declared his candidacy, saying he would run not as the People's Party candidate but as the unified opposition candidate, I said, 'Is this Hong Gil-dong's candidacy declaration?' He could not say that he was the People's Party candidate, and when he proposed to be a unified candidate with the People Power Party, I predicted that he would declare his candidacy but would not complete the race."

He continued, "For a party with 3 seats to defeat the main opposition party with 103 seats is like a shrimp eating a whale. This is a disastrous situation for the People Power Party, so I predicted that once the People Power Party's unified candidate was decided, they would defeat Ahn Cheol-soo," adding, "It turned out as predicted."

Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate selected as the unified opposition candidate for the Seoul mayoral by-election, is answering questions from the press after finishing a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office on the 23rd. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Jeong also said, "Ahn Cheol-soo's brief surge to first place in approval ratings was largely due to support from the People Power Party's base, the main opposition party, so once the People Power Party's unified candidate is decided, the 'bandwagon effect' would make it fundamentally impossible for Ahn Cheol-soo to win."

He then said, "Now, this by-election has become the Nae-Oel-Bak (Nae-gok-dong land Oh Se-hoon, LCT Park Hyung-joon) election. The matchups between the ruling and opposition candidates have been decided. The unification show is over. The unification effect has already worn out its fatigue and will not be very effective. There will be aftereffects. It's good. Be careful on the downhill path," he warned.

Finally, Jeong publicly supported Park Young-sun, the Democratic Party's Seoul mayoral candidate, saying, "I will fight fairly and squarely and win. I will do my best to win."

Earlier that morning, Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate, defeated Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party to become the unified opposition candidate for the Seoul mayoral by-election.

Both candidates' sides jointly announced that in a unification poll conducted on 3,200 Seoul residents on the 23rd, reflecting 'suitability' and 'competitiveness' equally, Oh was declared the winner.

Immediately after the announcement, Oh held a press conference and emphasized, "I will surely heed the solemn command of the citizens to judge the regime through unification and open the path to regime change."

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