Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon and former Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk. [Yonhap]
Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon and former Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk. [Yonhap]

Shin Jang-sik, acting leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party, said former party leader Cho Kuk had wanted to run in Busan's Buk-gu A district in the June 3 National Assembly by-election, with plans for a direct contest against independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon.

Shin made the remarks Wednesday on SBS Radio's "Kim Tae-hyun's Politics Show," saying Cho had personally told him of his wish to run in Busan. "Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Young-jin, and multiple other Democratic Party figures I simply could not ignore, told me, 'Not Busan — please pull back from there,'" Shin said.

As a result, Shin said, they had no choice but to look elsewhere. "Since the Democratic Party opposed a Busan run, I had no choice but to interpret their stance as tacit approval for other districts — Pyeongtaek, Hanam or elsewhere," he said.

However, Shin said Cho had not settled on Pyeongtaek from the outset. "He kept saying things like, 'I won't go somewhere easy,' and through that process Pyeongtaek emerged as the common ground," he said.

When the host asked whether Cho harbored any hard feelings toward the Democratic Party, Shin said, "On a human level, he could feel that way."

The Busan Buk-gu A race drew Democratic Party candidate Ha Jung-woo, People Power Party candidate Park Min-sik and independent candidate Han Dong-hoon in a closely fought contest. Han won, defeating Ha by 1.75 percentage points.

Cho ran in the Pyeongtaek by-election but lost to People Power Party candidate Yoo Eui-dong.


choigo@heraldcorp.com