Kim Nam-guk: "Running in Ansan by-election... It would be awkward if Cho Kuk runs, but I’ll compete on ability"

[Financial News] Kim Nam-guk, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), has announced that he will run in the by-election for members of the National Assembly in the Ansan-gap constituency in Gyeonggi Province.
On the 7th, appearing on YTN Radio’s "Kim Jun-woo's News Face-Off," Kim was asked by the host whether he had fully made up his mind to run in Ansan. He replied, "I am preparing to officially declare my candidacy on the 9th."
He added, "I am now at a stage where I am carefully balancing the messages I want to convey, including the concerns of Ansan citizens, local pending issues, what public sentiment in the area is calling for, and the role that the National Assembly should play at the central level."
When asked about speculation that Cho Kuk, leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party, might also run in Ansan, the host noted that the two were said to have a teacher-student relationship. Kim responded, "When I was pursuing my doctoral program at Seoul National University (SNU) while he was a professor there, I was not in the advising group supervised by Cho." He continued, "So we did not have a direct teacher-student relationship."
However, Kim went on to say, "If Professor Cho Kuk comes to run, it would put me in a very awkward situation." At the same time, he stressed, "Politics is not about personal ties; it is about responsibility to citizens, and public responsibility must come first. So if he does decide to run, it would be a situation where we have to let our abilities decide the outcome."
Meanwhile, former lawmaker Yang Moon-seok effectively asked former Institute for Democracy deputy director Kim Yong to run in the by-election for members of the National Assembly in the Ansan-gap constituency in Gyeonggi Province, which had effectively been Yang’s home district, through a Facebook post in March. However, some observers have voiced concern over the legal risks surrounding Kim Yong.
Regarding this, Kim Nam-guk said, "If deputy director Kim Yong runs in Ansan, I would be in the position of his competitor," adding, "I think it would be better for me to refrain from commenting on this." He then added, "I believe that the citizens of Ansan and many others have already formed their own judgment on this matter."
newssu@fnnews.com Kim Su-yeon Reporter