Former Unification Minister and presidential candidate Chung Dong-young announced Monday that he will contest Seoul’s Gwanak-B constituency in the April 29 by-elections. 

Saying that he would throw himself into “building a popular progressive party,” Chung announced his bid to return to the National Assembly as a lawmaker.

Although he has been a senior member of the opposition bloc for some time, he has not held office since the end of his term in parliament in 2012.

“If I win, there will be a seismic shift in the political arena. Both the ruling and opposition parties will be jolted awake,” Chung said.

“Democracy is a system for the poor ordinary people. Democracy is not working (in Korea). If the weak come together, changes can be made.”

The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, with which Chung severed ties in December, lambasted the move saying that he was splitting the opposition bloc.

“Someone who was the party’s presidential candidate leading the way for splitting the opposition bloc is a deplorable action (that is) incomprehensible to the people,” the NPAD spokesperson Rep. Kim Yung-rok said.

He added that by entering the race Chung would give the ruling Saenuri Party an undeserved advantage and that it would hamper the opposition bloc’s attempt to bring about a regime change in the next presidential election.

“(The NPAD) firmly believes that the people will choose the strong opposition party (NPAD).”



By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)