Ahn Cheol-soo to announce 3rd presidential run

Minor opposition People’s Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo will announce his third presidential bid Monday as he looks to make next year’s presidential election a four-way race.

Ahn is slated to meet the press Monday at the National Assembly to announce his run. It will be Ahn’s third attempt at the presidency.

The entrepreneur-turned-politician withdrew from the presidential race less than a month before the presidential election in November 2012 and declared his support for Moon Jae-in, then-candidate for the main opposition party.

He also ran in the 2017 presidential election and finished third.

Ahn entered politics in 2011, competing in the Seoul mayoral by-election months after Oh Se-hoon resigned from the post. Despite enjoying high approval in polls, Ahn dropped out of the race and instead endorsed Park Won-soon.

In next year’s presidential election, Ahn will compete against former Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, who is affiliated with the ruling Democratic Party, and Rep. Sim Sang-jeung of the minor left-wing Justice Party, as well as an as-yet undetermined candidate from the main opposition People Power Party.

Ahn has been in conflict with the People Power Party due to an unsuccessful attempt to merge his party with the main opposition party. Both parties are critical of the policies of the incumbent Moon Jae-in administration.

By Ko Jun-tae (ko.juntae@heraldcorp.com)