Dalseong (
Korean: 달성군) is a constituency of the
National Assembly of
South Korea. The constituency consists of
Dalseong County,
Daegu. As of 2024, 214,642 eligible voters were registered in the constituency. The constituency was created in 1996 from the
Dalseong–Goryeong constituency.
History
Dalseong, like all other constituencies located in the
Daegu–Gyeongbuk region is widely considered a stronghold for the conservative
People Power Party.[1][2][3] Accordingly, Dalseong has always elected members of conservative political parties to represent the constituency in the National Assembly.[4] The constituency has been represented by floor leader of People Power Party
Choo Kyung-ho since 2016.[5]
Former
SsangYong Group CEO
Kim Suk-won of the conservative
New Korea Party was the first member to represent the constituency having won with 62.71% of the vote in the
1996 legislative election.[6] However Kim resigned two years later in 1998 in order to return to the SsangYong Group as CEO.[7][8] A by-election was held in 1998 between
Park Geun-hye of the conservative Grand National Party and Eom Sam-tak of the centrist-liberal
National Congress for New Politics, which saw Park win with 62.5% of the vote.[6][9][10] Park won re-election in
2000 with 61.39% of the vote, once again defeating Eom Sam-tak of the
Millennium Democratic Party.[6] In the following election, Park won in a landslide with 70.03% of the vote.[6] Park won re-election with a record 88.57% of the vote in
2008, receiving the second highest share of votes in the election.[11] Park did not run for re-election in
2012, having previously taken over as acting leader of the Grand National Party in December 2011 via a party emergency committee.[12] Former Dalseong County Mayor Lee Jong-jin succeeded Park, having garnered 55.63% of the vote.[6] Ahead of the
2016 election, Lee announced that he would not stand for re-election.[13] He was succeeded by
Choo Kyung-ho, who had served as Deputy
Minister of Economy and Finance and the Chairman of the Office for Government Policy Coordination under President Park Geun-hye.[14][15] Choo won re-election to the seat in
2020 and
2024, with 67.33% and 75.31% of the vote respectively.[6][16][17][18] Choo was the only member of the ruling
People Power Party to receive more than 100,000 votes in the 2024 legislative election.[19]
Chairman of the Office for Government Policy Coordination
(2014–2016)
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance (2022–2023)
Floor leader of the People Power Party (2024–present)