"Nomination of Minister Candidate Jeong Ho-young, Narrow Talent Pool Leading to Cliques... Yoon's Double Standards Cabinet"
Seoul Mayor to Be from Democratic Party in June Local Elections for Balance
"Important to Develop Our Candidate Through Primaries"
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On the 18th, Song Young-gil, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea who officially declared his candidacy for the Seoul mayoral election in the June 1 local elections, said, "Even those who voted for candidate Yoon Seok-yeol in this presidential election are increasingly worried," adding, "(The people) think that since they gave central power to the People Power Party, they will give the Seoul mayor to the Democratic Party to maintain balance."
On the same day, former leader Song appeared on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strong Current Affairs' and said, "The Seoul mayor needs to have the political experience and competence to at least confront the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, and be a candidate who can overwhelm Mayor Oh Se-hoon in TV debates and all other areas. I dare say I am prepared for this."
Regarding the nomination of Jeong Ho-young as Minister of Health and Welfare, former leader Song criticized, "Isn't this being done with such a narrow talent pool, forming a clique-like, neighborhood gang-style cabinet?" He also commented on the overall ministerial appointments by the Yoon administration, saying, "It's a clique cabinet of people from certain universities, high school seniors and juniors, so-called drinking buddies," and evaluated it as "a Yoon-style double standard cabinet that goes beyond the personnel policies of the Moon Jae-in administration, which they criticized."
He added, "For this government to proceed properly, there needs to be a proper check-and-balance mechanism that can deliver harsh truths and public sentiment from the side," emphasizing, "If the Seoul mayor is a Democratic Party candidate, I think they can play that role."
Regarding the fact that current Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is trailing in public opinion polls, he said, "When I ran for Incheon mayor, I was 15 percentage points behind candidate Ahn Sang-soo. But after two weeks of campaigning, I won by 8 percentage points," adding, "Oh Se-hoon is strong, but he lost to our candidate Jeong Se-gyun and also lost to candidate Go Min-jung."
He continued, "Our (Democratic Party's) conditions are unfavorable right now," and stressed, "Therefore, it is important to nurture our candidate through the primary election."
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