Former President Park Geun-hye, the "queen of elections," moved to the forefront of the campaign with nine days left until the June 3 local elections.
On the afternoon of the 25th, the former president visited the campaign office of Lee Jang-woo, the People Power Party's Daejeon mayoral candidate, to lend support. Taking the microphone at Lee's campaign office that day, the former president said, "Candidate Lee Jang-woo for Daejeon mayor is a comrade who has been with me for a very long time," adding, "No matter how difficult things get, he is a steadfast person who never wavers in his trust."
She then said, "I believe the citizens of Daejeon also know well this true side of the mayor," and left the venue.
Around 2:30 p.m. that day, the former president arrived in a black sedan in front of Lee's campaign office. She wore a white jumper and black pants, the same outfit as when she visited the birthplace of Yuk Young-soo in Okcheon, North Chungcheong, that morning.
Getting out of the car, the former president approached cheering supporters to high-five them and shook hands with citizens. She spent five minutes with supporters.
Starting at 1 p.m., supporters of the former president began gathering in front of the campaign office, blowing whistles and chanting, "Park Geun-hye! Park Geun-hye!" They also chanted, "Lee Jang-woo! Lee Jang-woo!" The campaign estimated that about 3,500 people gathered today to see the former president.
Around 2:40 p.m., the former president entered Lee Jang-woo's campaign office and held a closed-door meeting for about 20 minutes over tea with Lee Jang-woo, the People Power Party's Daejeon mayoral candidate, and Yoo Young-ha, a People Power Party lawmaker.
At the meeting, Lee presented the former president with a hanging scroll inscribed with "Seoro" (瑞露), meaning a sign that ushers in an era of great peace and prosperity. The closed-door meeting took place in a warm and friendly atmosphere between the former president and the candidate. Lawmaker Yoo Young-ha opened a notebook and was seen taking notes throughout the meeting.
After the meeting, Park personally came out and took the microphone. The former president said, "I hope there will be a good outcome so that mayoral candidate Lee Jang-woo can serve the citizens."
After taking a commemorative photo with the five Daejeon district office chief candidates and Lee, the former president left the scene around 3:30 p.m. The former president did not separately answer reporters' questions.
Meeting with a reporter after the event, candidate Lee Jang-woo began by saying that in the closed-door meeting with the former president, "We said we feel we made things difficult for the president because we did not attend to her properly." He added, "The former president asked me how my health is."
At the meeting, the former president was said to have asked the party to unite tightly as one. Lee said, "We laughed the most while talking about old times with the former president," adding, "She was supposed to come to Daejeon in Dec. last year for dinner, but we could not meet because the state of the country turned unfavorable."
This Daejeon mayoral race is a rematch after four years between Heo Tae-jung of the Democratic Party of Korea, who served as Daejeon's elected mayor in the 7th term from 2018 to 2022, and Lee Jang-woo of the People Power Party, the incumbent mayor at the time.
Twenty years ago, in 2006, during a stump speech for the local elections, the former president was hospitalized after a "box-cutter attack" and became known for asking aides upon discharge, "What about Daejeon?" The former president immediately went to Daejeon to campaign after being discharged, and the Hannara Party overturned a losing race to win.
Public reaction to the former president's visit to Daejeon that day was mixed.
A taxi driver in Daejeon surnamed Jang (65, male) said, "If the former president runs in Daegu even now, she would be elected, but Daejeon is different," adding, "I don't know why someone who was impeached is coming."
Kim Woo-gi (68, male), who said he supplied food ingredients for 20 years at Daejeon's Oryu Traditional Market, said, "The former president has her own painful circumstances and, because of Korean sentiment, her visit will be a boost."