Seoul: Fed up with the South Korean government and seeing little hope for the opposition, Cho Young-moon said he will contest next week’s election – a month-long party led by disgraced politicians.
Cho, a 48-year-old dentist, is among several South Koreans planning to vote on April 10 for former Justice Minister Cho Kook’s Korea Reconstructionist Party and its anti-government platform.
President Sun Suk-ol’s approval rating has hovered around 30 percent for months amid lawsuits and voter frustration over rising inflation, a sluggish economy, and doctor strikes.
Although Cho Kook’s party has presented its policy, recent polls show it neck-and-neck with the ruling party, and analysts say his appeal to angry voters could win him enough seats to play king in the next parliament.
For Cho Kook, the goal may be simpler – revenge.
Cho Kook, a rising political star, was once tipped to run for president in 2019 before an academic admissions scandal rocked his family.
The investigation is led by the current president.
Cho’s wife spent more than three years in prison after being accused of falsifying documents to get her children into college, her daughter was forced to surrender her medical license, and Cho faces two years in prison if the Supreme Court rejects his appeal.
His pursuit of the scandal propelled him onto the national stage, and he won the 2022 presidential election despite never having been elected before.
But two years later, Cho’s story has strengthened the message against him among voters who are increasingly disaffected between the president and the administration.
“I will make the president a lame duck first, then a dead duck,” Cho told AFP.
