NongHyup Central Association Chairman Election Narrowed Down to Two-Way Race Between Song Young-jo and Jo Deok-hyun

With eight candidates registered for the NongHyup Central Association President election held by direct vote for the first time in 17 years, the race appears to be narrowing from a three-way contest to a two-way contest. This is because one of the leading candidates is currently facing legal risks.

According to the National Election Commission, eight candidates completed registration for the 25th NongHyup Central Association President election on the 15th. Election campaigning is allowed only for candidates from the 12th to the 24th. The election day is the 25th.

This election is conducted by direct vote, where 1,111 heads of agricultural and livestock cooperatives and heads of product cooperative federations directly elect the Central Association President. Agricultural and livestock cooperatives with more than 3,000 members are granted an additional voting right of one vote, and the president is decided based on a total of 1,252 votes reflecting public opinion.

The eight candidates are Kang Hodong, head of Gyeongnam Yulgok Agricultural Cooperative; Song Youngjo, head of Busan Geumjeong Agricultural Cooperative; Lee Chanjin, former policy advisory committee member of Yeouido Research Institute; Lim Myungtaek, former branch manager of NH NongHyup Bank Eonju Branch; Jung Byungdoo, preliminary candidate for National Assembly member of Goyang-si Eul; Jo Deokhyun, head of Chungnam Dongcheonan Agricultural Cooperative; Choi Sunghwan, head of Busan Bukyeong Horticultural Agricultural Cooperative; and Hwang Seongbo, head of Gyeongnam Dongchangwon Agricultural Cooperative. Early election trends showed a three-strong structure formed by candidates Song Youngjo, Jo Deokhyun, and Kang Hodong.

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However, immediately after candidate registration, Kang Hodong’s loan-related case was belatedly revealed, reshaping the race into a two-strong structure. On November 10 last year, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled against Kang Hodong in his lawsuit against the Financial Services Commission seeking cancellation of his suspension from duty. Kang’s legal representative filed an appeal on the 27th of the same month. The appeal trial date has not yet been set. From August 2014 to December 2018, while serving as head of Yulgok Agricultural Cooperative, Kang was sanctioned by the Financial Supervisory Service for improper loans exceeding the individual loan limit of up to 4.817 billion KRW to a specific person.

When handling loans, the head of a NongHyup cooperative is obligated to comprehensively analyze the purpose of funds, required amount, and repayment ability to provide an appropriate amount of support. Kang’s side reportedly explained to the court that “at that time, his status changed to a non-standing cooperative head through amendments to the articles of association.”

Candidate Song is a six-term cooperative head in the Busan area, the longest-serving among the candidates. He is evaluated to have nationwide recognition, having served as a director of the NongHyup Central Association and NongHyup Economic Holdings. His stable leadership of Geumjeong Agricultural Cooperative for 22 years is also seen positively. Song pledged to integrate the Central Association and Economic Holdings to streamline the organization and to increase cooperative support funds by 2 trillion KRW over four years.

Candidate Jo Deokhyun is a three-term cooperative head and former auditor of the Central Association. He is gathering votes from cooperative heads in the Daejeon and Chungnam regions but is considered to lack nationwide recognition. Jo pledged to increase rice purchase funds by 3 trillion KRW, among other promises.

The NongHyup president election is won by a candidate who obtains a majority in the first round of voting. However, if no candidate achieves a majority, a runoff election is held between the first and second place candidates. Since most past elections have proceeded to a runoff, this election is also expected to go to a runoff.

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