Jinseongjun: "The ruling party likely to nominate Kim Taewoo, unable to defy Yoon's will"

Assemblyman Yeo, SBS Radio Interview
"Prosecutor-Police Confrontation? The Important Thing Is Electability"

Jin Seong-jun, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, predicted on the 7th that the People Power Party would nominate former Gangseo District Mayor Kim Tae-woo for the Gangseo District mayoral by-election in Seoul, saying, "It seems they ultimately cannot go against Yoon's will (尹心, President Yoon Seok-yeol's intention) and are acquiescing."

On the same day, Jin appeared on SBS Radio's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' and said, "Seeing former Mayor Kim being specially pardoned on last Liberation Day, I thought President Yoon intended to have Kim run," adding, "The People Power Party initially seemed to consider not nominating him because the election terrain was too unfavorable and there was no proper justification."

Currently, the Democratic Party has nominated former Deputy Commissioner of the National Police Agency Jin Gyo-hoon as the candidate for the by-election. Some have viewed this as a so-called 'prosecutor-police showdown' with former Mayor Kim, who has a background in prosecution.

Jinseongjun, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea. [Image source=Yonhap News]

However, Jin emphasized, "The nomination was not made with political calculations in mind," adding, "Basically, the most important factor in an election is the possibility of winning." He said, "First, the judgment was that candidate Jin Gyo-hoon had the highest chance of winning," and "Second, since this by-election arose due to former Mayor Kim's loss of office following a guilty verdict, integrity should be the primary condition for a mayoral candidate."

He continued, "Candidate Jin Gyo-hoon must have undergone numerous personnel vetting processes to reach the highest ranks of the police, and he has been thorough in self-management, so I believe the strategic nomination was made because he is completely free from moral and legal defects in this election."

He also viewed this Gangseo District mayoral by-election as "the first starting point to judge the tyranny of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration."

Jin said, "If they nominate former Mayor Kim, who is responsible for causing this by-election, can that be allowed?" He added, "Within the People Power Party, there are party rules and regulations that prohibit nominating candidates in elections caused by their own fault, and because of this, the party initially hesitated a lot and almost decided not to nominate anyone."

He continued, "But they reversed course and decided to nominate, and moreover, nominating the very person responsible for causing the by-election is unacceptable both morally and logically," criticizing the decision.

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