Hero or scandalous demagogue?
Kang Yong-seok announces his bid to run for Gyeonggi Province governor in the local election set for June 1, in front of Seryu metro station in Suwon, April 4, 2022. Yonhap
Controversial lawyer's return to politics for local election draws mixed reactions from conservative party
By Ko Dong-hwan
Former lawmaker and lawyer Kang Yong-seok has declared his bid to join the main opposition People Power Party's (PPP) primary in order to be a part of the candidate selection process to run for governor of Gyeonggi Province on June 1.
If his candidacy is approved, Kang will compete in the internal primary competition with Yoo Seung-min, a former lawmaker who ran unsuccessfully in the 2017 presidential election, and Rep. Kim Eun-hye, a former MBC anchor who served as President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's spokesperson before she quit on Tuesday and declared her bid to join the race on Wednesday.
Unlike the other two candidates, Kang has an obstacle to overcome to make his bid effective. He lost his membership in the party 12 years ago due to his inappropriate remarks about female news show hosts. In a casual meeting with university students, he said those wishing to become successful news anchorwomen “have to think about giving everything.” His remarks drew a backlash from news show hosts who viewed it as derogatory. Consequently, the conservative party stripped him of his party membership.
Kang applied to the PPP's Seoul chapter, April 5, to regain his party membership as all candidates must be affiliated with the party to run in the primary.
The PPP Seoul chapter's party member qualification assessment committee held a meeting that day and unanimously approved Kang's request to join. The committee's rule states that those ousted from the party cannot re-enter within a five-year period.
Nevertheless, Kang still needs the final approval of the party's floor leaders to join the party again officially.
Kang is also the face of
, a right-wing YouTube news channel with over 900,000 subscribers that has been making numerous scandalous claims against celebrities and politicians.
He said on Facebook that news reports about the PPP's Seoul chapter deciding to approve of his membership were “good news” and promised to be careful with his words and actions as a party member from now on.
On Jan. 25, 2022, former MBC reporter Kim Sae-ui, left, and Kang Yong-seok, who are the faces of YouTube channel Hoverlab, walk out of a Seoul Metropolitan Police station after being questioned over publicly claiming that People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok was bribed by a startup company's president. Newsis
Kang held a press conference on Monday in front of Seryu metro station in Suwon announcing his election bid. He said it is now time to “normalize Gyeonggi.” He said he expects the party to approve of him in the end because it needs to draw as much public attention as possible to win the Gyeonggi governor's seat, which represents over 11 million residents, the biggest constituency in the country. It was his way of saying that the party needs a high-profile candidate like himself to win the seat.
The following day, Kang introduced his policies on Facebook. He said more than 80 percent of the country's regulations on real estate are concentrated in the capital region (Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi) and that he will “adamantly and swiftly” deactivate them in order to attract more investments and companies to the province.
While Kang seems busy getting ready for the election, as he waits for the green light from the PPP's leadership, supporters of the party appear to be divided over accepting the brash lawyer.
Those in favor of accepting him left comments on the PPP's homepage saying, “Kang is the conservatives' hero,” and, “He was the only one who fought against the (ruling) Democratic Party of Korea while the PPP was quiet.” Some rooted for Hoverlab, saying that the popular right-wing YouTube channel “serves the public better than the PPP.”
However, there were almost just as many opposing voices. Many of them were uncomfortable seeing Kang announce his election bid and of his membership being approved by the PPP's Seoul chapter because his past mistakes make him unqualified to be a politician. Kang recently claimed on YouTube that PPP leader Lee Jun-seok had been bribed by a startup company's president and last year alleged that he had been involved in sexual misconduct.