Jun Byung-hun (Yonhap News)
The main opposition Democratic Party elected three-term lawmaker Rep. Jun Byung-hun as its new floor leader Wednesday.
Jun, who replaced Rep. Park Ki-choon, will serve until next year’s local elections scheduled for June 4.
Jun, considered a hardliner, has emphasized the need to strengthen the Democratic Party’s presence.
The lawmaker clinched victory in a second round of voting as none of the three candidates -- Jun and Reps. Woo Yoon-keun and Kim Dong-cheol -- received more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round.
In the first round, Woo took 50 votes and Jun received 47 votes from the 125 Democratic Party lawmakers in attendance. Kim was pushed out in the first round with 27 votes.
Jun recieved 68 votes, while Woo took 56 votes in the second round.
Kim is a prominent nonmainstream member of the Democratic Party, while Woo is considered to have a moderate political stance.
By Choi He-suk
(
cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)