Suitability for Yeo Presidential Candidates: Yoon Seok-yeol Leads, Followed by Hong Joon-pyo... Ha Tae-kyung Makes a Surprising Appearance

Ha, Seems Like He Will Announce Presidential Candidacy This Week

Rep. Ha Tae-kyung of the People Power Party is leaving the funeral hall at the Armed Forces Capital Hospital in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, where the memorial altar for the late Sergeant Lee, who endured sexual violence by a senior and attempts at persuasion within the Air Force before taking his own life, was set up.
Seongnam - Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] On the 13th, Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, appeared for the first time in the opposition party's presidential candidate suitability survey. Analysts suggest that the new 30-something leader of the People Power Party, Lee Jun-seok, influenced this survey result.

According to a survey conducted by PNR Research on behalf of Money Today and the Future Korea Institute, targeting 1,009 adults nationwide on the 12th, former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, a leading opposition presidential candidate, ranked first with 37.9% in the opposition party's presidential candidate suitability. Representative Hong Joon-pyo followed with 10.8%.

People Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo and former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min tied for third place with 5.2% each.

Representative Ha ranked fifth with 2.6%. Governor Won Hee-ryong of Jeju Province and former Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Kim Dong-yeon took sixth and seventh places with 2% and 1.7%, respectively. The opinion that "there is no suitable figure within the opposition" was 20.7%.

Ha, who appeared for the first time in this survey, is expected to declare his presidential bid between the 15th and 16th. Ha, born in 1966 and part of the '86 Generation' (those born in the 1960s who entered university in the 1980s), has long been a close friend of party leader Lee Jun-seok and has openly supported him throughout this party convention. In the past, he worked with Lee in the Bareun Party and the New Conservative Party.

The margin of error for this survey is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, please refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.