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Ex-lawmaker Yoo Seong-min not running in PPP presidential primary

Published: 13 Apr. 2025, 17:31

Former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min gives a lecture at Kyungpook National University in Daegu on April 11 [YONHAP]

Four-term lawmaker Yoo Seong-min announced Sunday he will not run in the People Power Party (PPP) presidential primary, saying the party hasn't learned its lesson even after the impeachments of two conservative presidents.

“The party has refused to take the path of proper self-reflection and change, even though conservative presidents have been impeached consecutively,” Yoo wrote in a Facebook message, referring to former Presidents Park Geun-hye and Yoon Suk Yeol.

It was Yoon's April 4 ousting, following his short-lived martial law imposition, that led to the scheduling of the presidential election for June 3.

“There is no sense of urgency,” Yoo added. “I wonder if they are even interested in trying to beat Lee Jae-myung.”

Former Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung is favored to win his party's primary and also the June 3 election.

“I am outraged at how they have already assumed the loss in the presidential election, and they're obsessed with vested rights after that loss,” Yoo continued. “Rather than trying to expand their conservative foothold toward the middle, they are only making it smaller. Their behavior has left me speechless.”

Yoo said he will still remain “a true conservative” and will try to rebuild conservatism “with reasonable and rational people.”

Because Yoo only said he will not run in the PPP primaries, there is speculation that he may choose to throw his hat into the presidential ring as an independent candidate.

Yoo finished fourth in the 2017 presidential election when he ran for the center-right Bareun Party.

Yonhap