On the 6th, gubernatorial candidate Oh Jung-gi of the Democratic Party of Korea for North Gyeongsang Province officially declared his run for North Gyeongsang governor, saying he would become a strong one-team with Daegu mayoral candidate Kim Boo-kyum and reignite the stalled administrative integration debate that halted due to political calculations.
At the National Assembly that day, candidate Oh held a press conference and said he would make North Gyeongsang's stopped heart beat again, and stated accordingly.
Candidate Oh said North Gyeongsang's blast furnace flames are dying out, children are leaving their hometowns to find jobs, and politics has stagnated and rotted away, noting it was the result of choosing by looking only at a particular party's flag every election.
He added that six defeats were not frustration but a grave mandate from provincial residents to restore North Gyeongsang's pride, and emphasized that he would build the future of Korea and North Gyeongsang Province together with President Lee Jae-myung.
As key pledges, candidate Oh said he would revive the spark of administrative integration, form a one-team with candidate Kim Boo-kyum to pursue an orderly integration, secure a budget of 20 trillion won and robust local autonomy powers, and launch a "Daegu–North Gyeongsang economic community."
He also said he would build regional strategic industrial belts—including the Daegu–North Gyeongsang new airport and an energy expressway, plus secondary batteries in Pohang, semiconductors in Gumi, and bio in Andong—to establish a new job ecosystem.
Right after the press conference, meeting with reporters, candidate Oh said expectations for substantive change are far greater than during the 2018 local elections, adding that even amid a murky national situation, many assess that President Lee Jae-myung is holding the center and leading state affairs, and that provincial residents' expectations are growing for policies they can feel in their daily lives.