Photo: Former Assembly Member Kwon O-eul. Credit: Saenuri Party.
The most conservative region of South Korea is Gyeongsangbuk-do Province 경상북도, the country’s analogue to West Virginia or Oklahoma in United States politics. But with conservatives at an all time low, Lee Jae-myung 이재명 is finding unlikely allies even there. On April 29, Kwon O-eul 권오을, a former three-term conservative legislator from Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province 경상북도 announced that he will join the Democratic Party 민주당 and Lee’s presidential campaign.
Kwon was Andong’s Assembly Member from 1996 to 2008, in a district that went for Yoon Suk-yeol 윤석열 by 67.8% in the 2022 presidential election. Kwon was joined by a dozen former mayors, county chiefs and provincial legislators from Gyeongsangbuk-do, giving the Democrats an organizational base in a part of the country where the party has never had a meaningful foothold.
Kwon said he was persuaded to join Lee by the candidate’s Andong roots and by Lee’s vision of a more centrist Democratic Party. Despite its ruby-red status, Andong has been dissatisfied with the recent proposal to merge the administration of Gyeongsangbuk-do Province with the city of Daegu 대구, which would diminish the city’s influence as the provincial capital.
