Rep. Sim Sang-jeung of the minor opposition Justice Party said Thursday she will retire from politics. The surprise announcement came after she failed her bid for a fifth parliamentary term in the Goyang A district of Gyeonggi Province, just northwest of Seoul, in this week's parliamentary elections. The progressive party, which currently has six lawmakers, did not win a single seat. Rep. Sim Sang-jeung of the minor opposition Justice Party pauses while announcing her retirement from politics at the National Assembly in Seoul on April 11, 2024. (Yonhap) "At the end of my remaining term as a member of the National Assembly, I'll resign from progressive politics I have cherished for the past 25 years," Sim said in a tearful voice at a news conference at the Assembly. "I did not receive the trust of my electorate. Above all, the Justice Party suffered a crushing defeat. As a person who has been at the center of the progressive party for a long time, I feel deeply responsible." The 65-year-old Sim entered p olitics in 2004, when she won a proportional representation seat from the predecessor of the Justice Party. She was then elected to the Assembly from the Goyang A district three times in a row. But she finished third in Wednesday's election with 18.41 percent of votes. Sim, who served as the chairperson of the Justice Party in 2015 and 2019-20, is currently the party's floor leader. Source: Yonhap News Agency
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