SEOUL– Four-term lawmaker Woo Sang-ho was named as new interim leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) on Tuesday.
Woo was selected to lead the DP’s interim leadership committee in a general meeting of party lawmakers, party spokesperson Shin Hyun-young said.
Woo will lead the DP until the party elects a new chairperson at a national convention planned for August.
“Rep. Woo is expected to exercise leadership in an impartial manner as he has declared he won’t seek reelection,” Shin said.
Woo is considered one of the “Generation 86” lawmakers, a mainstream group within the DP referring to those who went to university in the 1980s and were born in the 1960s. The Generation 86 group has been blamed by critics for the party’s low approval ratings amid perceptions they are politicians with vested interests.
Still, Woo is considered more neutral than others and enjoys trust from a wide spectrum of party members.
Reps. Lee Yong-woo, Park Jae-ho and Han Jeoung-ae were named as members of the committee, Shin said.
The new leadership was selected after all members of the previous leadership committee quit en mass to take responsibility for the party’s crushing defeat in last week’s local elections.
Source: Yonhap News Agency