Kim Young-hwan, the Chungbuk governor who had been excluded from the party’s nomination, said on April 2 that he will “become the candidate through a fair primary, win the general election and contribute to the party” after the People Power Party decided to rerun the primary.
Kim released the statement through the provincial press office immediately after the nomination committee announced its decision. “I sincerely thank the nomination committee and the party for making the right decision under difficult circumstances,” he said, adding, “I also thank the residents who encouraged me.”
Earlier, Park Deok-heum, chair of the People Power Party’s nomination committee, said after a meeting at the party’s Yeouido headquarters that the Chungbuk gubernatorial contest would revert to the initial registration stage. The committee will hold a preliminary primary among all candidates except the incumbent governor; the winner of that preliminary will then face the incumbent in a one-on-one final primary.
Accordingly, the People Power Party’s Chungbuk gubernatorial primary will begin with a preliminary contest among the original applicants — former Daegu High Prosecutor General Yoon Gap-geun, former national police commissioner Yoon Hee-geun, and former Chungju Mayor Cho Gil-hyung — and the preliminary winner will go on to face Kim in the main primary.
However, it remains unclear whether all original applicants will return to the race. Amid internal turmoil over nominations — including the incumbent’s exclusion and allegations of a preselected candidate — Cho, who had withdrawn from the preliminary contest, and former commissioner Yoon Hee-geun are reportedly hesitant to rejoin the primary.
