Chung Seong-ho, a key pro-Ming figure, declines the candidate for speaker of the National Assembly... Could he spark unification?

Five-term lawmaker Jeong Seong-ho, who ran as a candidate in the preliminary election for the 22nd National Assembly Speaker for the first half of the term, announced on the 12th that he would withdraw from the race.
With Rep. Chung withdrawing, it is predicted that the possibility of a unified presidential race between six-term candidates Choo Mi-ae and Cho Jeong-sik will increase.
On the 12th, Rep. Chung announced in an official document that he was the "22nd Democratic National Assembly Speaker for the first half of the term."
"I will be declining to be a candidate in the primary elections," he said, "and I would like to express my sincere gratitude and apologies to those who have supported and helped me so sincerely until now."
He made his intention to decline clear, saying, "I will work harder for the victory of the Democratic Party and a change of government."
Following former National Assembly Speaker Park Ji-won, Rep. Chung also withdrew from the running, and the remaining candidates were Rep. Woo Won-sik, who has been elected five times, Rep. Cho Jeong-sik, who has been elected six times, and Rep.
Cho Mi-ae is the only candidate left. Political circles are speculating that the three may be united. In fact, there is a discussion today (12th) within the Democratic Party about the possibility of uniting Cho Mi-ae and Rep.
Considering that the number of seats and age have been taken into consideration in selecting candidates for Speaker of the National Assembly in the past, some have speculated that Joo is following in the footsteps of the Speaker of the National Assembly candidate.
Reflecting this, Rep. Kim Min-Seok, a leading figure within the party and former chairman of the Democratic Party's policy committee, publicly expressed his support for Joo on his social media the same day.
He said, "The new political grammar that considers it normal to respect the sovereignty of party members and the traditional political grammar that considers it normal to give priority to older people in repeated re-elections are inadvertently heading toward the same solution."
"We need wisdom and determination to combine the two to foster party unity and strength," he said. Therefore, he emphasized that "Chairperson Choo Mi-ae is the right choice."