The Smile Has Vanished from President Lee... 'Top Picks' Jung Won-oh, Ha Jung-woo, and Kim Byung-wook Suffer Painful Defeats

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[Financial News] The ruling party appeared to have avenged itself by winning 12 of 16 regional governor races in the June 3 local elections, but the mood inside the Blue House is heavy. That is because the key candidates in Lee Jae-myung's carefully selected so-called "top picks" were defeated one after another in symbolic battlegrounds, including the Seoul metropolitan area and the Yeongnam region.
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At a briefing on the 4th, Blue House senior spokesperson Kang Yoo-jung took an unusually restrained tone on the election results, saying, "The government will heed public sentiment and use this as an opportunity to stabilize livelihoods, grow the economy, and promote national unity." Even after receiving a landslide victory for the ruling party, the Blue House has been extremely cautious in its comments, reflecting concern that public opinion is moving in an unsettling direction.
The most painful blow was the defeat in the Seoul mayoral race. Jung Won-oh, the former Seongdong District mayor whom Lee publicly praised last December on social media while citing satisfaction with the New Year holiday, lost in a close race after a late reversal.
Political circles say Lee's hard-line real estate messages, centered on regulation, and his tough remarks targeting prosecutors right up to election day triggered a backlash that swayed moderate voters in Seoul. On the eve of the vote, Lee also posted on social networking service (SNS) that the country must "escape from a real estate speculation republic." At a State Council of South Korea meeting on the 2nd, he also raised the pressure on prosecutors, saying, "If you make a mistake, apologize and withdraw it."
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Another major shock was Ha Jung-woo's defeat in Busan. Lee had trusted the former Blue House Senior Presidential Secretary for AI Future Planning so much that he nicknamed him "HaGPT" in various meetings. With Ha's loss, the DPK is left without a single seat in Busan for the first time in 22 years, since the 16th National Assembly.
In addition, Kim Byung-wook, a former Blue House Secretary to the President for Political Affairs and a member of the pro-Lee Jae-myung Seven, also lost in Seongnam, Lee's political hometown and symbolic stronghold.
As key pro-Lee candidates who highlighted the Blue House premium and the president's personal backing all failed to clear the hurdle in major battlegrounds in the Seoul metropolitan area and Yeongnam, observers say changes to the Blue House's talent selection and the government's policy drive now appear unavoidable.
sms@fnnews.com Sung Min-seo Reporter