hankyoreh

By Son Won-je, Staff Writer　

“It’s thanks to MB [President Lee Myung-bak] that I made it here. I plan to devote all my energies over the next 80 days to a victory for the party in the general election.” Former MBC anchor Shin Kyung-min, 59, was named Thursday as a Democratic Unity Party spokesman in the leadup to the general election in April.

During his year as a Newsdesk anchor, Shin gained fame for his caustic closing remarks regarding the Lee administration and South Korean society. On Dec. 31, 2008, he said, “What I wanted to talk about in my closing remarks this year was a society where principles live and breathe and reason flows through all things. That meant democracy, responsibility, trust, and security, as well as monitoring of power and concern for the vulnerable.”

Shin stepped down as an anchor with the broadcast of Apr. 13, 2009, and made his retirement official in September of last year. Meeting with reporters Thursday, Shin recalled, “I quit my job as anchor in a very unusual and attention-drawing way. It was thanks to MB, and it all went according to the plans of MB and the people close to him.”

The Democratic Party tried to recruit him as a candidate for Seoul‘s Eunpyeong-B seat in the election held on July 28, 2010, and for Seongnam’s Bundang-B seat in the Apr. 27, 2011 by-election, but the plans did not pan out. This time, he was persuaded in a meeting Wednesday night with new DUP chairwoman Han Myeong-sook and supreme council member and former MBC reporter Park Young-sun. He initially declined the offer, saying he would “probably be oldest-ever first-time spokesman,” but Han persuaded him by telling him to “live young,” Shin recalled.

Shin said that because he would be speaking for a large opposition party, he wanted to “get away from the ‘closing remarks’ image and speak in a refined way, saying things that explain major political issues accurately." Some observers within the party are suggesting Shin might run for a proportional representation seat or inherit the Deokjin seat in Jeonju from lawmaker Chung Dong-young, who recently announced that he would not be running for reelection. But many said that if Shin does run, he should do so in Seoul or the Seoul area. Shin attended Jeonju High School with Chung and joined MBC in the same recruitment period.

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