Ha Tae-kyung: "Choi Jae-hyung is different from Yoon... Being chased out and leaving voluntarily are different"

Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party who declared his candidacy for the presidential election, is attending and giving a lecture at the first-term members' meeting "Myeongbulheojeon Bosuda" held at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul on the 23rd. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, recently evaluated Choi Jae-hyung, the head of the Board of Audit and Inspection who is being mentioned as a presidential candidate, saying he is "different from former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl." While Yoon was "chased out" of the prosecution, Choi "left on his own."

On the morning of the 23rd, Ha said on BBS Radio's 'Park Kyung-soo's Morning Journal' in response to the question, "Do you think there is a high possibility that Choi will run for president?" that "It seems highly likely."

He added, "Being chased out and voluntarily leaving a position are somewhat different cases," emphasizing, "The evaluation is up to the people." This is interpreted as a concern that if Choi, currently the head of the Board of Audit and Inspection, resigns to run for president, it could violate political neutrality. In political circles, there is speculation that Choi could resign from his position as early as this month.

On the other hand, former Prosecutor General Yoon, after repeated conflicts with former Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae last year, resigned from his post in March and is preparing for a presidential bid amid heightened public interest.

He also pointed out, "Prohibiting someone from running is the Democratic Party of Korea taking the blame alone," adding, "There are several people in the Democratic Party who ran for office immediately after being judges or holding current positions," and said, "If they make an issue out of it, it falls into the era of double standards."

Regarding the fact that former Moon Jae-in administration figures such as former Prosecutor General Yoon, Choi Jae-hyung, and former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Kim Dong-yeon are being mentioned as opposition presidential candidates, Ha claimed, "Since there are so many mistakes by the current administration, they are all coming out as opposition candidates."

He added, "Since they have not yet declared their candidacy, there seems to be a lot of attention," and said, "If they all enter the ring, it will be a fair competition."

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