Ahn Cheol-soo declares presidential candidacy Ahn Cheol-soo, a lawmaker of the People Power Party, raises his fist as he attends a press conference at Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul on April 8, 2025, to announce his presidential candidacy in the party’s nomination race for a snap election to pick former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s successor. (Yonhap)
It looks like Lee Jae-myung and Ahn Cheol-soo are going to keep themselves relevant in South Korea’s politics by running for office again in the National Assembly:
Former Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea holds a press conference in Gyeyang, Incheon, Sunday, to run for the parliamentary seat in the Gyeyang-B district in the June 1 by-elections. Yonhap
Former presidential candidates Lee Jae-myung and Ahn Cheol-soo declared their bids, Sunday, for parliamentary seats in the June 1 by-elections, transforming the event to one of potentially high political stakes.
Lee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is the former Gyeonggi Province governor who lost the March 9 presidential election to President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol by a razor-thin margin, while Ahn Cheol-soo, the head of Yoon’s transition committee, also ran for president and merged his campaign with Yoon’s days prior to the election.
Lee will run for the seat representing Incheon’s Gyeyang-B district, which has been vacant since former DPK Chairman Rep. Song Young-gil resigned to run in the Seoul mayoral election in April, while Ahn will run for seat representing Bundang-A district of Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province, left by the Kim Eun-hye of the People Power Party (PPP), the former presidential transition committee spokesperson who is now running for the Gyeonggi provincial governor post.
It looks like Ahn Cheol-soo’s reward for ending his campaign and supporting Yoon Suk-yeol is that he will get to have a big vote on who joins the new government:
This composite photo shows People’s Party chief Ahn Cheol-soo (L), who was named the chairperson of the presidential transition committee, and Rep. Kwon Young-se of the People Power Party, who was appointed as the vice chairperson. (Yonhap)
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol named his candidacy merger partner Ahn Cheol-soo chairman of the transition committee Sunday, making the first step to take over the administration and set the agenda for the next five years.
Yoon also tapped his campaign chief, Rep. Kwon Young-se of the People Power Party (PPP), as vice chairperson of the committee, and appointed former Jeju Gov. Won Hee-ryong, who served as policy chief of the campaign, as the committee’s planning chief.
Ahn, who heads the minor People’s Party, dropped out of the presidential race at the last minute to support Yoon under a candidacy merger deal. The two said at the time that they will work together in forming the transition committee and the government.
“We share the same values and philosophy about running state affairs,” Yoon said of Ahn’s appointment at a press conference at the PPP headquarters in Seoul. “Ahn has a will to lead the committee and I also believe he is the right person.”
It will be interesting to see what Ahn gets in return for joining the campaign of Yoon wins the Presidency. They do seem like quite the odd couple to be joining campaigns:
Ahn Cheol-soo, the chairman of the minor opposition People’s Party (left), looks at Lee Jun-seok, the chairman of the major opposition People Power Party extending his hand for a handshake, at the March 1 Independence Movement Day commemoration event on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok on Friday dismissed rumors of a co-chairmanship with Ahn Cheol-soo as various rumors about Ahn‘s next steps arose since his stepping out of the race.
Ahn, the chairman of the minor opposition People’s Party, conceded his candidacy to the People Power Party’s Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday. There were rumors about Ahn‘s next moves, including one about him possibly becoming a co-chairman of the main opposition once the two parties merged after the election.
As local reports raised the possibility of Ahn undertaking a co-chairman position in the merged party, Lee dismissed the idea, saying he has not considered such an option.
It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out because if Yoon and Ahn merge their campaigns they have a better chance of defeating Lee for the presidency:
People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a seminar at the Sheraton Grand Incheon Hotel in Incheon, Monday. Joint Press Corps
The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) faces growing pressure to form a coalition with Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People’s Party for the March 9 presidential election, as surveys show that an alliance offers a greater chance for the opposition bloc to beat ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung.
So far, the PPP has been downplaying the recent rise in Ahn’s support rate, saying it is a “temporary phenomenon” stemming from infighting in the main opposition party between its presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol and party Chairman Lee Jun-seok throughout last month. However, anticipation is growing that the main opposition party may make a decision in the coming weeks in order to grab the public’s attention before the Jan. 31-Feb. 2 Lunar New Year holidays.
According to a Realmeter survey released Monday, the DPK’s Lee was leading the pack with a 40.1 percent support rate, followed by the PPP’s Yoon with 34.1 percent and Ahn with 11.1 percent. It was the first time that Ahn logged a double-digit number in the weekly survey conducted by the poll agency at the request of OhmyNews.
You can read more at the link, but what is even more interesting about the polling is that not only is a combined opposition ticket outpoll Lee Jae-myung, but if Ahn Cheol-soo is the lead the ticket polls even better than if Yoon was the lead candidate.
Here is the latest update on the Korean presidential race:
People’s Party Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo, left, and former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl meet Wednesday. [NEWS1]
Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl and People’s Party Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo had their first meeting on Wednesday and agreed to work together for the opposition’s victory in next year’s presidential election.
Yoon, who announced his presidential bid last month, met with Ahn, a two-time former presidential candidate in 2012 and 2017, for an almost 2 hour luncheon. According to their spokesmen, Yoon and Ahn agreed to continue their political and policy alliance.
Yoon and Ahn agreed that they will work together to deter the Democratic Party’s (DP) victory in the March 2022 presidential election, their spokesmen said in a joint press briefing. They confirmed that they are rivals in good faith as well as partners.
Ahn Cheol-soo, left, chairman of the People’s Party, embraces Oh Se-hoon, who won the ticket of the opposition bloc to run in the Seoul mayoral by-election, at a party lawmakers’ meeting in the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Wednesday. Ahn accepted co-chairmanship of the campaign for Oh, who beat Ahn in the preliminary opinion polls. [OH JONG-TAEK]
Volunteer service for virus patients Ahn Cheol-soo, chief of the People’s Party, enters the emergency management center of a hospital in the southeastern city of Daegu, the epicenter of South Korea’s coronavirus outbreak, on March 2, 2020, after participating in volunteer service for infected people. (Yonhap)
Ahn Cheol-soo (R), the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party’s preliminary candidate for Seoul mayor, runs in a half-marathon on a road in central Seoul on April 29, 2018, in this photo provided by the local daily Chosun Ilbo. (Yonhap)
Ahn Cheol-soo gives remarks at a meeting of the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party in Seoul on March 19, 2018. Ahn, a former presidential contender, had stepped out of the political stage in February after his party merged with another minor political party to form what is now Bareunmirae. Ahn returned to party affairs as head of a committee for recruiting new party members. (Yonhap)