Acting Uri Party Chairman Named

The ruling Uri Party named Yoo Jay-kun (69) as its acting chairman to assume the party’s interim leadership until its national convention, scheduled for February 18. The appointment took place at a joint meeting of the party’s emergency executive committee members and heads of local chapters on January 6.

They elected Yoo as chairman after a voting on four candidates nominated for interim leader, including Lim Chae-jung, Kim Hyuk-gyu, and Han Myeong-sook.

Yoo, a three-term lawmaker and former lawyer in the U.S., has a reputation for being well informed of the U.S., and he is currently heading a group of lawmakers in search of stable reforms with conservative lawmakers within the Uri Party.

Former chairman Jung Sye-kyun, who was nominated as the new Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Energy officially resigned on January 6, and Kim Yeong-chun and Jo Bae-sook, who are going to run for the party’s national convention next month, also resigned as emergency executive committee members.

The Uri Party will confirm the appointment of Yoo as chairman by convening a joint meeting of lawmakers and central committee members on January 24.

Jung-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com