South Korea's Ruling Party Lawmaker Becomes 1st To Announce Bid For Presidency

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th May, 2021) A two-term legislator for South Korea's ruling Democratic Party, Park Yong-jin, became the first person to officially declare on Sunday that he will be running for president in the 2022 election.

"I will achieve a change of era in the Republic of Korea through a generational change in politics," the 50-year-old politician told a press conference, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.

Park vowed to "create a happy nation and become a courageous and young president who stands up against unfairness and inequality."

As a labor activist, Park has been jailed several times for his activism � once in 1994 for participating in a sympathy strike with rail workers and then again several years later.

In April, the lawmaker made headlines by suggesting that South Korea should replace military conscription with an all-volunteer system, but require both men and women to receive basic military training of up to 100 days.