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Cho Kuk, the leader of the newly formed Rebuilding Korea Party, speaks at a campaign event in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, on April 8, 2024, ahead of the general election. (Yonhap)

On Monday, just two days before Korea’s general elections are scheduled to be held, Cho Kuk, the head of the Rebuilding Korea Party, launched a whistle-stop tour. Cho is attempting to head off President Yoon Suk-yeol and People Power Party interim leader Han Dong-hoon, who have been touring Gyeonggi Province and Seoul on the platform of making the suburb of Gimpo part of Seoul.

“Han Dong-hoon said that Gimpo will be part of Seoul by the time the magnolia flowers are in bloom. Well, the magnolia flowers have come and gone, and the cherry blossoms are already here,” Cho told reporters in front of Gimpo Art Hall, in the Sau neighborhood of Gimpo.

“Han recently said that Gimpo is basically already part of Seoul. He’s making a mockery of Gimpo citizens and Seoul citizens alike. He might as well have admitted that they can’t incorporate Gimpo into the city,” Cho party said, leveling a broadside at Han.

Cho also described Han’s claim that Cho and Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung would pardon themselves if the opposition party won 200 seats in the National Assembly as being “ludicrous” and designed to “stir up panic among the populace.”

“The president is the one with the authority to pardon people,” Cho noted.

“If the Democratic Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party get 200 seats between them, we’ll be able to investigate the stock manipulation crimes [at Deutsch Motors] perpetrated by Kim Keon-hee and her mother Choi Eun-sun. If we [the opposition] can claim 200 seats, everybody will see Kim Keon-hee in the dock.”

Cho made the rounds of Gimpo, Gunpo and Wirye New Town in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and Soongsil University in Seoul’s Dongjak District on Monday. In southern Gyeonggi Province, he played up the issues with the People Power Party’s proposed merger of Gimpo and Seoul while taking aim at Na Kyung-won, the PPP’s candidate in the Dongjak B electoral district.

On Tuesday, the final day of the campaign, Cho will be barnstorming across the country with stops in Busan, Daegu, Gwangju and Seoul. His supporters will then be gathering for a final event at Gwanghwamun Plaza, where he launched his campaign. 

“Since Gwanghwamun Plaza is the place where Park Geun-hye’s presidency was ended over her influence-peddling scandal, it represents our resolve to be the party that carries on the mantle of the ‘candlelight revolution’ and brings the ‘prosecutorial dictatorship’ to an early end,” said Kim Bo-hyeop, spokesperson for the Rebuilding Korea Party.

By Ko Han-sol, staff reporter

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