Overview
- Ha Jung-woo, whom the Democratic Party formally nominated Thursday, will run for Busan’s Buk-A seat on June 3, as the party also tapped former presidential spokesperson Jeon Eun-soo for Asan.
- President Lee Jae Myung approved Ha’s and Jeon’s resignations Tuesday, and Ha declared his bid Wednesday after leaving the inaugural post overseeing national AI policy.
- The Buk-A race is likely to pit Ha against independent Han Dong-hoon and People Power Party hopeful Park Min-shik, following last weekend’s Media Tomato poll showing Ha at 35.5%, Han at 28.5% and Park at 26%.
- Opposition figures condemned the move, with the People Power Party calling Ha’s exit irresponsible for creating an AI policy vacuum and Han alleging presidential meddling, which Ha denied.
- Ha’s record as AI strategy chief includes securing 260,000 Nvidia chips, winning APEC support for a Korean AI initiative, and brokering a BlackRock memorandum, as 14 by-election seats together are viewed as an early bellwether for the administration.