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After concluding the meeting at party headquarters in Yeouido, Nomination Committee Chair Park Deok-heum said the North Chungcheong gubernatorial contest will be returned to the initial registration stage. All candidates except the incumbent governor will compete in a preliminary round, and the candidate who advances will face the incumbent in a one‑on‑one final primary.
Accordingly, Yoon Gap-geun, former chief prosecutor at the Daegu High Prosecutors' Office; Yoon Hee-geun, former commissioner of the National Police Agency; and Cho Gil-hyung, former mayor of Chungju—who originally applied for the nomination—will compete in the preliminary round, with the winner advancing to face Governor Kim in the main primary. Former lawmaker Kim Su-min, who applied during the additional call for candidates, has already withdrawn and is therefore excluded from the race.
The Cheongju mayoral primary will follow the same \"Korean Series\" format. Park said the committee decided to accept a rehearing request after a thorough review of local election conditions and the additional explanatory materials submitted during the appeal process. Earlier, Cheongju Mayor Lee Beom-seok requested a rehearing on March 27 after objecting to the Nomination Committee's cut-off decision.
However, Park said the committee will await the court's injunction ruling in the Daegu mayoral dispute (filed by Rep. Joo Ho-young) before making a final decision. Because the committee accepted a suspension of the disqualification ruling for Governor Kim and effectively reset the North Chungcheong nomination, if the court grants Rep. Joo's injunction, the committee is likely to follow the same procedure to restore the candidacies of Rep. Joo and former Korea Communications Commission chair Lee Jin-sook.
