Yoo Seung-min: "Despite Lee Jae-myung's Unpopularity, 17%p Defeat... Yoon Government's Public Sentiment Confirmed"

Former Lawmaker Yoo Seung-min KBS Radio Interview
"Kim Tae-woo Pardon and Restoration of Rights... Significant Responsibility in Election"

In the by-election for the mayor of Gangseo District in Seoul, where Kim Tae-woo, the People Power Party candidate, suffered a crushing defeat, former People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Seung-min evaluated, "This election confirmed the public sentiment of Seoul citizens toward the Yoon Seok-yeol administration."

Former lawmaker Yoo appeared on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs' on the 12th and said, "The president bears considerable responsibility for this election," adding, "In short, this is President Yoon Seok-yeol's defeat, and the issue now is how our government and ruling party will bring about change and innovation moving forward."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He explained, "Out of 500,000 voters, half voted this time, and the other half expressed their will by not voting," adding, "Gangseo District is indeed unfavorable to the People Power Party, but in last year's presidential election, candidate Yoon Seok-yeol lost to candidate Lee Jae-myung by 2.2%, and three months later, in last year's local elections, Kim Tae-woo, who lost this time, won by 2.6%. So, in the presidential election, he lost by 2.2%, but in the local election, he won by 2.6%."

He continued, "But this time, he lost by 17.2%," and said, "Therefore, the president must look at this coldly. Since he lost by a very narrow margin of just 2.2% in last year's presidential election, it is true that this area is unfavorable to us, but the fact that this gap widened to 17% confirms the public sentiment to that extent."

Regarding the rising calls for leadership responsibility following the by-election defeat, he said, "I have no intention of holding the Kim Ki-hyun leadership accountable for this election," adding, "Because they have no authority at all."

Former lawmaker Yoo pointed out, "The decision to pardon and reinstate a candidate who had received a final ruling from the Supreme Court within three months and field him in the election was the president's will," adding, "The party did not want to nominate that candidate, and in a way, this by-election could have proceeded without nominating a candidate, but due to the will of the president and the presidential office, the party had no choice but to reluctantly field that problematic candidate and then had to clean up after it."

Additionally, former lawmaker Yoo said, "The Lee Jae-myung administration is not viewed favorably by the public and has a high level of unfavorable sentiment," adding, "Yet losing by a huge margin of 17.15 percentage points is not something the president can just let slide. He should seriously reflect on why this happened, why, after winning the last presidential election just a year and a half ago, it turned out like this this time. He should not just listen to the sycophants and flatterers around him but truly reflect thoroughly."

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