Na Kyung-won: "Even the President's 40-Year Confidant Failed... Firm Will to Systematize Nomination Process"

Former People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won stated that the People Power Party’s nomination management committee’s decision not to include a single person from the presidential office in the list of single-candidate nominations for the April 10 general election in Seoul shows “the will to conduct nominations through a system.”

Former People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On the 15th, Na appeared on KBS Radio’s ‘Jeon Jong-cheol’s Jeonggyeok Sisa’ and analyzed, “For example, looking at the case where Seok Dong-hyun, a former secretary-general of the National Unification Advisory Council and a friend of President Yoon Seok-yeol, was cut off, it ultimately shows the intention not to use personal connections as a criterion for nominations.”

She added, “However, I don’t think it is right to automatically disadvantage those who served as aides in the presidential office,” and said, “Going forward, we should move toward a tailored approach that demands and accepts the repositioning of competitive senior candidates.”

Earlier, the People Power Party’s nomination committee announced the list of single-candidate nominations for 19 out of 49 constituencies in Seoul for the April 10 general election, nearly half of the districts. Na was confirmed as the single-candidate nominee for Dongjak-eul in Seoul. Regarding this, she said, “It seems they decided mainly based on competitiveness, in other words, focusing on those with a high chance of winning the main election.”

Regarding the Dongjak-eul constituency, she said, “In fact, this has been a somewhat strong area for the Democratic Party. Since there are three universities (Chung-Ang University, Soongsil University, Chongshin University), there are many young people, so it was not a favorable area for the People Power Party, and generally, the opposition party’s influence was strong,” adding, “So it is a place where we need to work sincerely and diligently.”

On the possibility of former Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae running in Dongjak-eul, she said, “I’m not particularly concerned about who comes in this election,” and added, “If former Minister Choo runs, since she has been in politics for a long time, I think we could have a discussion about the future discourse of the Republic of Korea.”

Meanwhile, regarding former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk’s plan to form a new party, she said, “If they enter the legislature like this, it would be worse than Choi Kang-wook and Yoon Mee-hyang. They intend to wear badges as if they are bulletproof,” and added, “I think the public will basically view this negatively. If that happens, it will actually benefit the People Power Party.”