‘South Korea’s Bill Gates’ Ahn Cheol-soo to run for mayor of Seoul

Seoul, Dec 20 (efe-epa).- Ahn Cheol-soo, who was a candidate for the presidential election in South Korea in 2017, announced Sunday that he will run for Seoul mayor in April.

It is the third time that Ahn, leader of the centrist opposition People’s Party, will run for the mayoralty of the South Korean capital.

The position is considered the second-most important in the country and an important step towards obtaining the presidency.

At a press conference Sunday in the National Assembly (parliament), Ahn said that success in the municipal elections on Apr. 15 would be “a bridge” towards a victory for the opposition in the presidential elections scheduled for March 2022 in which his side aims to unseat the ruling and liberal Democratic Party.

Ahn is often known as the “South Korean Bill Gates” for the software company he founded and for his multifaceted nature – in addition to being an experienced businessman and politician, he is a medical doctor and has continued to practice this year to assist in the fight against Covid-19..

In 2016 he founded the Popular Party together with other splinters of the leftist formation and tried to achieve the presidency in the 2017 elections in which the current president, Moon Jae-in, clearly prevailed.

The early elections for the mayor of Seoul in April were called after the death of former mayor Park Won-soon, who allegedly committed suicide last July after being accused of sexual harassment. EFE-EPA

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