Moon says he feels 'heavy responsibility' after election victory

SEOUL, April 16 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in said Thursday he feels a sense of "heavy responsibility" rather than delight over the ruling party's crushing victory in this week's parliamentary elections.

In a statement, he described the election results as a "great choice of the people."

"I think what the people showed through the election was eagerness" to overcome the coronavirus crisis, and this added "force" to the government, he said.

"The government will take a heavy responsibility," he said. "(I) will never be conceited and will listen to the voice of the people more humbly."

Moon pointed out that South Korea held the national elections Wednesday in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Voters abided by the social distancing and other quarantine rules, and even those in self-isolation participated in the polls in an orderly way, he said.

It led to a "miraculous turnout" of 66.2 percent, or 29 million votes, according to Moon.

It "amazed the world once again," he said, adding that the government would confront the national crisis with confidence in the power of the people.

The ruling Democratic Party secured 163 seats from 253 constituencies nationwide, with its sister party gaining 17 of the 47 seats decided by support for parties. The main opposition United Future Party and its sister party won only 103 seats.

It represented a South Korean liberal bloc's biggest general election triumph over the conservative side since the nation's full democratization with the 1987 constitutional revision.

lcd@yna.co.kr
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