Kim Eun-hye selected as candidate for Gyeonggi governor

Rep. Kim Eun-hye of the People Power Party, who served as President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s spokesperson, has been selected as the party’s Gyeonggi governor candidate for the upcoming June 1 local elections.

The People Power Party’s candidate selection committee announced the results of its primary race to select candidates for provincial governors and metropolitan city mayors including Gyeonggi Province, Incheon and Ulsan metropolitan cities and South Gyeongsang governor. Kim, a first-term lawmaker, earned 52.7 percent of the vote to win the primary even if she was given a penalty point as an incumbent lawmaker, beating former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min (44.6 percent). Rep. Kim represents Bundang A district of Seongnam City in Gyeonggi Province, which includes Daejang-dong, the center of a development project scandal. She beat over a veteran politician and presidential hopeful, on the potential backing of President-elect Yoon.

For the Incheon mayoral race, former Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok (50.3 percent) was selected as the party’s candidate to stage a race with incumbent Mayor Park Nam-choon of the Democratic Party. Kim Doo-gyeom (38.1 percent), former chief of Ulsan metropolitan city’s Nam ward, has been selected as the party’s mayoral candidate for the city. Kim will compete for the mayorship with incumbent Mayor Song Cheol-ho, and former lawmaker Park Maeng-woo, who defected the People Power Party to run in the race as an independent. Park Wan-soo (55 percent) has been selected as candidate for South Gyeongsang governor.


Jeong-Soo Hong hong@donga.com