The Democratic Party of Korea announced on Friday that Rep. Park Soo-hyun and former South Chungcheong Province Governor Yang Seung-jo have been selected as the runoff candidates for the party's nomination for the June 3 local election gubernatorial race in South Chungcheong Province.
So Byeong-hun, chairman of the party's central election management committee, announced the primary results at the party headquarters in Yeouido for the three candidates: Rep. Park, former Governor Yang, and former Seocheon County Mayor Na So-yeol. The primary was conducted over three days from June 4 through Friday, with a 50% weighting for registered party member voters and 50% for public opinion surveys using secure phone numbers.
Park, born in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, first entered the National Assembly by defeating Saenuri Party (now People Power Party) candidate Park Jong-jun in the 19th general election. He served as the inaugural presidential spokesperson and senior secretary for public communication under the Moon Jae-in administration. Most recently, he served as chief spokesperson for Democratic Party leader Chung Chung-rae.
Yang, born in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, passed the 37th national bar examination (Judicial Research and Training Institute Class 37) and practiced law before entering the National Assembly by winning the 17th general election as a candidate for the Uri Party (now the Democratic Party). He served as camp spokesperson when the late former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan ran in the party's presidential primary ahead of the 17th presidential election in 2007, and served as secretary-general under then-party leader Moon Jae-in's leadership in 2015.
The runoff vote between the two candidates will be held from June 13 to 15.