Ha Jung-woo, former senior secretary to the president for AI future planning, told the media on the 28th that after submitting his resignation to run in the Busan Buk-gu Gap by-election, President Lee Jae-myung encouraged him, saying he had made a "big decision." Earlier, when the Democratic Party asked the former senior secretary Ha to run, the president said in a public meeting on the 9th, "You can't go along just because someone is trying to work on you." In just three weeks, remarks related to the former senior secretary Ha's run have turned on their head.
There are various interpretations. A political source said, "Didn't the president bring up the former senior secretary Ha in a public meeting from the start in order to boost him?" The idea is that, in case a heavyweight from the opposition camp entered the Busan Buk-gu Gap by-election, they sought to raise his profile by staging a push-and-pull between the president and the Democratic Party over the former senior secretary Ha. Currently, Park Min-sik, former Minister of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs from the People Power Party, and Han Dong-hoon, former People Power Party leader running as an independent, are in the race for Busan Buk-gu Gap.
Earlier, in Dec. last year, the president named then-Seoul Seongdong District Chief Chong Won-o and posted on social media, "It seems (he) does a good job." The prevailing analysis is that this post became a decisive turning point for the former district chief Chong to defeat multiple-term incumbents at once and become the Democratic Party's Seoul mayoral candidate. There is talk that the president's public mention of the former senior secretary Ha's potential run at a public venue recently is along similar lines.
Another interpretation is that the outcomes of elections held inside and outside the party since the president took office may have formed the backdrop for allowing the former senior secretary Ha to run. In the National Assembly speaker election, Rep. Choo Mi-ae, considered pro-Lee Jae-myung, lost, and Woo Won-shik, viewed as non-pro-Lee, was elected speaker. In the party leadership race as well, not Rep. Park Chan-dae of the pro-Lee camp but pro-Jung Chung-rae leader Jung Chung-rae won. In the nomination process for this local election's metropolitan mayors and governors, the pro-Jung camp won across all races that held primaries in Gyeonggi, South Jeolla·Gwangju, North Jeolla and South Chungcheong.
In political circles, some said, "From the president's standpoint, wouldn't he not want candidates seen as pro-Lee to win the by-elections held alongside the June 3 local elections?" A prime example cited is former presidential office spokesperson Kim Nam-joon running in Incheon Gyeyang B, the district where the president won reelection. The former spokesperson Kim had served as a key aide during the president's tenures as Seongnam mayor and Gyeonggi governor and has been called the "close confidant" who best grasps the president's intent.
An official from the Democratic Party said, "There was even 'traffic control' that had former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil, who served five terms in Gyeyang B and expressed his intention to run in this by-election, move to a different district," adding, "It appeared the president was revealing a belief that 'my person must certainly be nominated and elected.'"