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The ruling People Power Party’s newly elected leaders. From left, Jang Ye-chan; Rep. Cho Su-jin; Kim Byung-min; Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon; Kim Jae-won; and Rep. Tae Yong-ho. (Yonhap) |
Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, who campaigned on his ability to work closely with President Yoon Suk Yeol, was elected to lead the People Power Party on Wednesday.
Kim, who earned 52.9 percent of more than 460,000 votes cast, said in an acceptance speech that he would commit to lead the party to victory in next year’s general election.
“To do that our party has to work for the people, and show that we are making the lives of South Koreans better,” he said.
The runner-up to Kim was Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo who garnered 23 percent of the vote. The three-time presidential contender conceded his candidacy in last year’s presidential election to support Yoon’s bid against the Democratic Party of Korea’s candidate, Lee Jae-myung.
Chun Ha-ram, who campaigned on the back of the party’s disgraced ex-leader Lee Jun-seok, came third at 14.9 percent. Hwang Kyo-ahn, a former prime minister who was acting president for five months until May 2017, was in last at 8.72 percent.
The five seats on the supreme council, the party’s decision-making body, went to Rep. Cho Su-jin, a reporter-turned-politician, Rep. Tae Yong-ho, a former North Korean ambassador to the UK, Kim Jae-won, who was senior secretary to former President Park Geun-hye, Kim Byung-min, a political analyst, and Jang Ye-chan, who was an aide focusing on youth issues for Yoon while he was still president-elect.
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Rep. Tae Yong-ho delivers an emotional speech on Wednesday after winning a seat on the ruling People Power Party’s supreme council. He is the first North Korean defector to assume a leadership position in a South Korean political party. (Yonhap) |
Tae, the first North Korean defector to be directly elected into the National Assembly, made history again by winning a leadership position in a major political party of South Korea.
“Seven years ago when I came to South Korea to seek freedom, I did not know anyone here. South Korea has embraced me,” he said. “Thank you for having faith in me and allowing me the honor of serving the party to lead the country’s path to unification.”
The results of the hotly contested election were announced at a People Power Party convention held at a stadium in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province.
President Yoon briefly attended the convention, held on the eve of the first anniversary of his election victory, and delivered an address before the stadium packed with a roaring crowd of thousands of registered party members.
“Around this time last year, all of us worked together to build our country back,” he said.
Yoon said his party was a party of “respect for the Constitution and liberal democracy.”
He said that over the last 10 months in office, he has stressed “expanding solidarity with countries that share similar values” as South Korea.
He cited restoring ties with Japan as an example, seeming to refer to the fund announced earlier this week to compensate victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor. “Trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan is critical now more than ever to respond to emerging security crises, including the North Korean nuclear threat.”
He said that to protect peace and defend the country’s security, the ruling party has to “work harder and act faster.”
Yoo Heung-soo, a former ambassador to Japan who served as the head of the election administration for the convention, said in an opening address that the 55 percent turnout was the highest in the party’s history.
“Your enthusiasm for the party convention is reflected in the turnout,” he said. “Tomorrow marks a year since our party won the presidential election. I hope that the newly elected leadership will work to support the success of the Yoon administration.”
A day before the convention on Wednesday, Ahn and Hwang issued a joint statement calling on Kim to step down as a candidate on the claim that the presidential office was interfering in the convention.
Last week, a press leak suggested some staffers at the presidential secretary’s office have been campaigning for Kim online, spreading images and statements promoting him while denouncing other candidates.
The Ahn campaign filed a complaint against the senior presidential secretary with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, saying staffers working for Kang Seung-kyoo violated political neutrality as public servants.
While calling for a rigorous investigation, Ahn said he would respect the choice made by the party’s members and “humbly accept” the results of the election.
Ruling party heads of municipalities including Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon and Gangwon Province Gov. Kim Jin-tae were also at the convention.
