(LEAD) Ruling party elects party's youth spokesperson as Supreme Council member

Politics 15:49 June 09, 2023

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead, photo; RECASTS throughout with info of Kim Ga-ram's nomination)

SEOUL, June 9 (Yonhap) -- The ruling People Power Party (PPP) selected the party's youth spokesperson as a new member of its Supreme Council on Friday to replace Rep. Tae Yong-ho who quit last month over a series of controversial remarks.

Kim Ga-ram was elected after winning 381 votes out of 589 ballots cast from members of the PPP's National Committee in a three-way race that included Lee Jong-bae, a member of Seoul City Council, and Cheon Kang-jung, a dentist-turned-politician.

Kim is a 40-year-old former entrepreneur hailing from the southwestern city of Gwangju, a traditional stronghold of the main opposition Democratic Party. He served in President Yoon Suk Yeol's transition team and has since been the PPP's youth spokesperson.

Kim pledged to play the mediator role connecting different generations within his party and supporters.

"As to my role in the party, I want to play a bridging role as someone in his 40s, connecting people in their 20s, 30s, 50s and 60s, as well as those in the older generation with the newer generation," Kim said.

Kim's election comes after the North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker Tae voluntarily left the council after he was referred to the party's ethics committee over remarks about a civil uprising on the southern island of Jeju in the 1940s and a phone conversation with a presidential secretary.

The ethics committee later suspended Tae's party membership for three months.