Cheon Haram "Gangseo-gu is a tough district?… Government and ruling party are the tough district makers"

CBS 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' Interview
"Oh Se-hoon Wins in Gangseo-gu by 14%p Margin"

Cheon Ha-ram, the People Power Party's Suncheon Gap district committee chairman, commented on the Seoul Gangseo District mayoral by-election results, saying, "The government and ruling party are 'rough terrain makers,'" and added, "It was a region where we could have won if we did well, but the metropolitan area election was turned into a tough battleground."

In an interview on June 12th with CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' Chairman Cheon responded to voices from the ruling party claiming that "Gangseo District was originally unfavorable to the ruling party," stating, "Gangseo District is not originally a tough battleground."

Cheon Haram, Chairman of the People Power Party's Suncheon Gap District Committee. [Image source=Yonhap News]

He explained, "Although the Democratic Party swept Gangseo District in the last general election, it is an area with many undecided and moderate voters and a very high proportion of residents in their 20s and 30s." He pointed out, "One year ago, in the Seoul mayoral local election, Mayor Oh Se-hoon received about mid-50% of the votes in Gangseo District and won against candidate Song Young-gil by a 14 percentage point margin." He continued, "In fact, we won the last Gangseo District mayoral election, so why is this considered a tough battleground? It was a region where we could win if we did well."

Regarding the cause of the People Power Party's crushing defeat, he diagnosed, "The biggest factor is the president's approval rating," adding, "The vote share Mayor Oh Se-hoon received in the last local election was almost identical to the president's approval rating at that time." He criticized, "There was no party leadership to play a plus-alpha role to compensate for the president's low approval rating," and said, "It is not a leadership that can show a better future vision than the Democratic Party."

He also cited the re-candidacy of Kim Tae-hoo, who caused the Gangseo District mayoral by-election, as a reason for the defeat. Chairman Cheon said, "(Kim Tae-woo) is an element that highlights the arrogance of the current government and ruling party," and added, "Although Kim Tae-woo was controversial, he had high name recognition, and considering that Democratic candidate Jin Gyo-hoon was a newcomer, the candidate variable was not significant."

He further stated, "Those who voted for Jin Gyo-hoon probably did not choose him because they liked him," adding, "It strongly reflected a protest vote driven by anger to judge the government and ruling party."

Chairman Cheon also mentioned that the controversy over Minister of Gender Equality and Family nominee Kim Haeng's mid-hearing walkout likely influenced this election, saying, "Since the Yoon Seok-yeol administration began, the points where approval ratings fluctuated the most included the disciplinary action against former leader Lee Jun-seok, but also when people said, 'Aren't we better than the Moon Jae-in administration's appointments? What did we do so wrong?' and made remarks that did not meet the public's expectations during personnel appointments. Those moments caused a lot of instability. The overall effect of reminding people of those issues again was very strong."

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