Minister Park Young-sun Announces Resignation
Confirmed Head-to-Head Contest with Representative Woo Sang-ho
Representative Park Ju-min Officially Declares Non-Candidacy
Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun is greeting virtual participants at the New Year's meeting of small and medium-sized business owners held on the afternoon of the 19th at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers.
[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] With Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, resigning from her ministerial position on the 20th to run in the Seoul mayoral by-election, the primary race within the Democratic Party of Korea has been set as a two-way contest between 'Park Young-sun and Woo Sang-ho.' Park Ju-min, who had been contemplating whether to run until the last moment, officially announced his withdrawal on the same day.
Minister Park expressed her intention to resign from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in the morning, and the Blue House accepted her resignation. After presiding over the expanded executive meeting of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups scheduled at the Daejeon Government Complex at 2 p.m., she plans to conclude her official ministerial duties. It is expected that Minister Park will declare her candidacy for Seoul mayor as early as the afternoon.
Accordingly, the Democratic Party primary will move beyond Woo's 'solo race' and enter a full-fledged competitive phase. This is also expected to bring changes to the election landscape, which had been dominated by Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party. With Minister Park, who has the highest approval rating among the ruling party, joining the race, a fierce primary battle with Woo is anticipated, potentially boosting public interest. Recently, Minister Park is reported to have activated her election campaign with close aides responsible for strategy and messaging.
Woo Sang-ho, who was the first to declare his candidacy, is focusing on increasing public engagement through platforms such as YouTube. Woo plans to announce detailed policies regarding the '160,000 public housing units' mentioned during his candidacy declaration. Alongside this, he intends to introduce policies aimed at addressing inequality and social disparities, officially entering election mode.
Both Woo and Minister Park have previously faced defeat in Seoul mayoral elections, so it is expected that they will stake their political futures on this election. Minister Park was consecutively defeated in the 2011 and 2018 Seoul mayoral candidate unification primaries against the late independent candidate Park Won-soon. Woo, a four-term National Assembly member, also challenged the 2018 Seoul mayoral primary but was defeated by the late Mayor Park and Minister Park.
With the primary race officially underway, the ruling party is rapidly transitioning to a by-election mode. The Democratic Party’s nomination management committee plans to accept candidate applications from the 27th to the 29th and conduct public interviews on the 2nd of next month. They also aim to complete the nomination screening by the 8th of next month. Candidate interviews will be conducted as 'public interviews' involving party members with voting rights.
Meanwhile, on the same day, Representative Park Ju-min declared his withdrawal via Facebook. Since his candidacy for the party leadership election in August last year, there had been interpretations that he was considering running in the Seoul mayoral by-election. Regarding this, Representative Park said, "Since the last party leadership election, I have been asked many times about whether I would run for Seoul mayor, and I have given it much thought. I want our party to play a bigger role in improving the lives of our neighbors by looking ahead with a longer and bolder perspective."
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