Ruling party recruits scientists, legal experts for April election

The ruling party on Friday announced its recruitment of two scientists and a legal expert as three new candidates to run in the April parliamentary election.

Lee Re-na, a professor of biomedical engineering at Ewha Womans University; Kang Chul-ho, Chairman of the Korea Association of Robot Industry and Jun Sang-bum, former judge who served at the Uijeongbu branch of the Seoul District Court were the latest batch of candidates tapped by the People Power Party.

“The three new candidates have actively built their careers in the areas of biomedical engineering, management in science and the legal field,” said People Power Party Rep. Cho Jung-hun, who is tasked with appointing election candidates.

“We have great expectations that they will play a pivotal role in reviving the livelihoods of the Korean people,” he added.

In line with its move to recruit candidates, the ruling party is currently making all-out efforts to woo Koh Dong-jin, former CEO of Samsung Electronics’ smartphone business. Koh is often credited as the mastermind behind the success of the tech giant’s flagship Galaxy mobile phone series. He currently serves as an adviser to the tech giant.

“Interim Chairman Han Dong-hoon himself has requested Koh to join our party and discussions are being held at this very moment,” Cho explained.

Lee, 56, has earned her master's and doctoral degrees in nuclear engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after earning a bachelor’s degree in physics from Kangwon University. She has since filed over 90 patents regarding her research into medical devices, according to the ruling party.

Kang, 55, is a former CEO of industrial robot maker Hyundai Robotics.

Jun, 45, is a legal expert who is a descendant of a revered independence fighter against Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea.

The three new candidates will be officially appointed through a ceremony scheduled for next week.

The ruling party plans to recruit some 40 candidates to run in the upcoming election until early February.

The party launched its election candidate management committee Thursday after appointing 10 members, including Chung Young-hwan, a former judge and current professor of law at Korea University, as committee chairman.