Cho targets PK voters with YS message

Dec 17, 2025, 09:31 am

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Cho Kuk (center), leader of The Rebuilding Korea Party, and party officials tour an exhibition at the Kim Young-sam Democracy Center in Dongjak District, Seoul, on December 16. / Source: Yonhap News

Cho Kuk, leader of The Rebuilding Korea Party, visited the Kim Young-sam Democracy Center on December 16, underscoring his commitment to carrying on the legacy of former President Kim Young-sam (YS) as the party moves to court voters in the Busan–South Gyeongsang (PK) region ahead of local elections.

The visit followed the party’s attendance last month at a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of Kim’s death, where it pledged to “keep moving forward on YS’s path,” a message widely seen as aimed at consolidating PK support.

During his visit to the center in Sangdo-dong, Seoul, Cho paid a courtesy call on Chairman Kim Duk-ryong. “I believe both Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam are giants of Korea’s democratic development,” Cho said, adding that the party would inherit the spirit of both leaders. Noting that he grew up in Dae-sin-dong, Seo District, Busan, Cho said, “Seeing President Kim’s posters as a child may have influenced me.”

Cho highlighted Kim Young-sam’s decisive dismantling of the Hanahoe military faction, saying, “I wondered what would have happened to our country without such decisions.” Referring to what he described as “Yoon Suk Yeol’s insurrection,” Cho added that he found himself thinking about what Kim would have said had he been alive. He also cited Kim’s famous maxim, “Daedo-mumun”—often translated as “the great way has no gate”—saying he embraced the principle when he entered politics as a guide for practicing “big politics.”

Cho’s outreach contrasts with the Democratic Party’s absence from the 10th-anniversary memorial ceremony at the National Cemetery in Seoul on November 21, which sparked criticism over neglecting the PK region. While President Lee Jae-myung sent a eulogy read by his chief of staff, the party itself limited its participation to sending flowers. Kim Hyun-chul, the late president’s second son and head of the Kim Young-sam Presidential Memorial Foundation, publicly rebuked the party at the time.

Political observers say Cho’s moves are widely interpreted as laying the groundwork for a possible run for Busan mayor in the local elections scheduled for June next year.

#Cho Kuk #The Rebuilding Korea Party #Kim Young-sam #PK region #local elections