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| Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the ruling conservative People Power Party (PPP) speaks during a press conference declaring his bid for the party's leadership at the National Assembly, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap |
By Lee Hae-rin
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the ruling conservative People Power Party (PPP) announced his bid, Monday, to run for the party's leadership, vowing to help President Yoon Suk Yeol become a successful leader.
During a press conference at the National Assembly, Ahn, a former presidential candidate who dropped out of the March 9 election last year to support Yoon, said he and the president "have a shared destiny" and that the future of his political career depends on the success of the Yoon administration.
"If President Yoon fails, there is no political future for Ahn Cheol-soo … No one can be more desperate than I am for the success of President Yoon," he said.
The lawmaker stressed that the party's victory at the National Assembly elections next year will be crucial for the Yoon administration and promised to do his best to help the PPP clinch a "landslide victory" if elected.
The Seoul metropolitan area will become a battlefield again in the upcoming elections, the lawmaker said, and vowed to secure at least 70 out of 121 seats up for grabs in the region to gain a majority in the 300-seat National Assembly.
In 2020's National Assembly elections, the liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which was the ruling party at the time, won a landslide victory, obtaining 180 out of 300 seats to become the dominant majority able to pass most bills and motions without support from other parties.
Ahn also vowed to reform the ruling party by resolving feuds and divisions within the PPP ahead of the nomination process next year, and build a team of policymaking experts.
"I am free from the party's factions, so I have no particular line of politicians I need to look after," Ahn said, explaining that he can focus on the party's victory instead of being hindered by intra-party feuding. He said he will also bring in several policy experts from outside of the party to map out a policy agenda that will ensure a victory against the DPK.
Meanwhile, Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon and Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun also declared their bids to run for the party leadership.
Na Kyung-won, a former lawmaker and vice head of the presidential committee on Korea's aging society and population policy, however, has yet to declare her bid for the leadership.
She currently leads public opinion polls. But Na has been at odds with the presidential office after making controversial remarks about writing off the debts of couples who give birth to children.
An official from the presidential office criticized Na, saying her proposal to write off debt held by parents is her own idea, and not the policy stance of the president. The official said it was inappropriate for a key post holder like Na to take advantage of her position to build her political career.
Na has not responded to the criticism.
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