Jung Chung-rae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, returned to the Daegu-North Gyeongsang (TK) region after two weeks. He is stepping up efforts to target the TK region, often called an "opposition stronghold."

On the morning of the 8th, Leader Jung and Kim Boo-kyum, the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for Daegu mayor, visited the Daegu Agricultural and Fishery Wholesale Market to experience everyday livelihoods. This visit to Daegu-North Gyeongsang follows trips to Uiseong and Yeongdeok in North Gyeongsang on the 27th of last month and a field supreme council meeting in Daegu in February to mark the anniversary of the Feb. 28 student movement, making it the third visit to Daegu-North Gyeongsang this year alone. It is unusual for a Democratic Party leader to visit the Daegu-North Gyeongsang area every month.

On the morning of the 8th at Daegu Agricultural and Fishery Wholesale Market in Buk-gu, Daegu, Democratic Party of Korea leader Jung Chung-rae, on a livelihood field visit, and former Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, who is running for Daegu mayor, taste imported tangerines that have just been sold at auction under the guidance of an auctioneer. /Courtesy of News1

Around 6:30 a.m., as auctioneers' bid calls rang out, Leader Jung and Candidate Kim appeared wearing blue work vests and cotton work gloves. Leader Jung also advised Kim, saying, "To run the market well, you have to know the market well."

Leader Jung joined the work by personally loading and pulling boxes of strawberries with Candidate Kim. On site, Leader Jung and Candidate Kim also engaged with vendors over cups of makgeolli. When vendors urged, "Leader, you should have a drink of makgeolli before getting to work," Leader Jung smiled and said, "I have to work," then filled his glass. He then shouted a toast of "For Daegu's development," blending into the on-site atmosphere.

Reflecting the current public sentiment in Daegu, Leader Jung also lightened the mood by joking with a female vendor he met on site. Smiling at the vendor, he said in dialect, "Wakano, wakano, you're saying. Are you embarrassed to see me? In Daegu at times like this, they say 'Waeikapnikka, waeikano.'"

On the morning of the 8th at Daegu Agricultural and Fishery Wholesale Market in Buk-gu, Daegu, Democratic Party of Korea leader Jung Chung-rae, on a livelihood field visit, and former Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, who is running for Daegu mayor, load strawberries purchased at auction onto a cart. /Courtesy of News1

Next, Leader Jung, Candidate Kim, Daegu Party Chair Heo So, and Democratic Party of Korea Supreme Council member Park Kyu-hwan were assigned to unloading cabbage. Leader Jung explained the method, saying, "Use your body; it's not about the arms, it's about the whole body."

After finishing the work, Leader Jung looked at the cabbages stacked on a pallet and said, "We built a painstaking tower as if stacking the Dabotap Pagoda. Carefully, from the lowest posture, we built the Kim Boo-kyum tower," adding, "We, too, will learn the care that touches each and every head of cabbage."

After the field experience, Leader Jung met with reporters and said, "(The vendors) say that as we rub shoulders and work together, we grow fonder, and they say such things about the Democratic Party of Korea. We will do everything we can with utmost sincerity to gradually open the hearts of Daegu citizens."

Candidate Kim also said, "If we are given the opportunity going forward, we will fix, one by one, the ways in which the civil service fails to properly support each and every aspect of citizens' lives."

In the afternoon, Leader Jung is scheduled to visit a grape farm in Sangju, North Gyeongsang, for another on-site experience.

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