Reform New Party's Ryu Ho-jeong, "Failure of Third Zone Politics" Withdraws Candidacy Registration

"Only Received Speech, Writing, and Appearance Consulting from the Party"
"Choosing Honest Acknowledgment and Apology Instead of Wearing a Mask"

Ryu Ho-jeong, a former lawmaker who ran as the Reform New Party candidate for Bundang-gap, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province in the 22nd general election, announced on the 22nd that she would withdraw from the race.

Former lawmaker Ryu Ho-jeong. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the afternoon of the same day, Ryu stated on her Facebook, "Now that I no longer have the politics to show the citizens, I judged that there is no reason to run in the main election."

She said, "The Third Power and I could not persuade the Justice Party, so as a new choice, I came to the Reform New Party according to the party affiliation decision of the new choice. Although the affiliated politicians in the third-party camp, who owe nothing to the two major parties, have different ideologies and thoughts, I believed we could unite through liberalism and responsible politics."

She continued, "It was okay that we were not the mainstream. I thought it did not matter if a party that uses dialogue and compromise?the essence of politics?as its weapon was created, and the sovereign citizens could once again expect politics. However, nothing really happened. There was no chemical bond, and neither the Third Power nor I were assigned any role."

She also said, "The only thing I received from the party was consulting about Ryu Ho-jeong’s words, writings, and appearance." She explained, "The reason I tried to understand somehow was the hope that the dialogue between Lee Jun-seok and Ryu Ho-jeong could be a solution to the deeply intensified gender conflict, which was frightening. But still, such a thing did not happen."

She then added, "After the proportional representation candidate order of the Reform New Party was finalized, I witnessed the scene where the party’s key officials easily declared their defection. Thanks to the efforts of Representative Lee Jun-seok and the leadership, it seems that at least minimal damage control is underway, but patience has become futile. The third-party politics I proposed with the Third Power and New Choice has failed. Instead of wearing a mask during the awkward and uncertain remaining election period, I choose honest acknowledgment and apology," she lamented.

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