Cho Kuk, leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party, said he decided to run in the Pyeongtaek-eul National Assembly by-election, to be held alongside the June 3 local elections, because he judged he could win in a multi-candidate race.
"I jumped in because I determined I could win through a multi-candidate contest," Cho said during an appearance on CBS Radio's "Park Sung-tae's News Show."
Asked about the possibility of candidate unification among the broader liberal bloc, Cho said he "simply cannot know" but added that "the progressive camp can unite and cooperate in Pyeongtaek-eul."
"The key criterion is who can reduce the People Power Party to zero and drive Pyeongtaek's leap forward. I dare say I am the most competitive," he asserted.
Cho explained his reasoning for choosing Pyeongtaek over other available districts. "If I had chosen Gunsan, people would say I went for an easy district. Ansan has issues attributable to the Democratic Party, but it's a progressive stronghold, so I would have been criticized for trying to take Democratic Party territory," he said.
"Among the three districts where the Democratic Party bears responsibility, Pyeongtaek is the toughest battleground. I judged that competing there would draw less pushback from the Democratic Party and would give me better justification," Cho added.
Regarding his decision to abandon a potential run in Busan Buk-gu-gap, Cho said, "Multiple people from the Democratic Party side contacted Supreme Council Member Shin Jang-sik and seriously asked that I not come to Busan."
"They said the spotlight would shift to Buk-gu, the framing would change to 'Cho Kuk versus Han Dong-hoon,' and it would trigger conservative consolidation. They asked whether the Busan mayoral race wasn't more important, and I fully understood the situation," he explained.
