South Korea’s ruling party, the United Democratic Party, held a party convention today to elect a new party leader, 58-year-old congressman Song Yong-gil was elected. The Japanese media pointed out that Song Yong-gil is a hardliner against Japan and often makes radical statements.
Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported that Song was elected as the leader of the Common Democratic Party. After his election, he said that South Korea will hold a presidential election next spring and he expects to lead his party to let the party’s presidential candidate win.
Song has distanced himself from pro-president Moon Jae-in’s political groups, and going forward, Moon’s cohesiveness within the party may decline.
The poll released by Gallup on April 30 shows that Moon’s approval rate is 29%, falling below 30% for the first time. Many people in the South Korean political circle and media believe that Moon’s “lameness” will become more and more obvious.
The new operation department of the United Democrats has to revive the morale of the party in order to win the presidential election in March next year, as the party lost the Seoul and Busan mayoral elections on April 7 to the biggest opposition party.
Yonhap News Agency reported that in today’s election for the leader of the CDP, Song Yong-gil received 35.6% of the votes, while the pro-Moon Jae-in candidate, MP Hong Yong-pyo, received 35.01% of the votes.
Song, a lawyer who has worked in the democratization movement and served five terms as a congressman, was elected mayor of Incheon in June 2010, and served as chief of Moon Jae-in’s campaign during the 2017 presidential election. He currently holds the position of chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Foreign Affairs and Unification.
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