Former President Park Geun-hye visited Chilseong Market in Buk-gu, Daegu, on the 23rd to support the campaign rally of People Power Party's Daegu mayoral candidate Chu Gyo-ho, greeting citizens and merchants. [Yonhap News]

Former President Park Geun-hye will visit Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province consecutively on the 25th, less than ten days before the June 3rd local elections, to support People Power Party's Daejeon mayoral candidate Lee Jang-woo and South Chungcheong provincial governor candidate Kim Tae-heum.

Attention is focused on what impact former President Park's late-stage campaign support will have on the Daejeon mayoral and South Chungcheong gubernatorial races.

According to candidate Lee's camp on the 24th, former President Park is scheduled to visit candidate Lee's campaign office in Tanbang-dong, Seo-gu, Daejeon, at 2:30 PM on the 25th.

In a phone call with Yonhap News, candidate Lee said, "I heard she evaluates me as a trustworthy person, someone who has kept their promises."

Daejeon is also a region with political ties to former President Park Geun-hye.

It was reported that when former President Park was hospitalized after a "cutter knife attack" during a campaign rally for the 2006 local elections while she was the leader of the Grand National Party (the predecessor of the People Power Party), her first words upon discharge were to her close aides, "What about Daejeon?" Immediately after being discharged, she went to Daejeon to support the campaign, which led to a last-minute reversal in the Daejeon mayoral race, where the Grand National Party had been trailing.

Following this, former President Park will visit Gongju Sanseong Market at 4 PM with South Chungcheong gubernatorial candidate Kim Tae-heum.

It is known that former President Park will declare her support for candidate Kim and then tour Sanseong Market, the largest traditional market in Gongju, meeting with merchants.

Both candidates Lee Jang-woo and Kim Tae-heum were previously classified as 'pro-Park' (pro-Park Geun-hye) figures.

Candidate Lee took an opposing stance during the impeachment proceedings against former President Park in 2016 when he was a member of the National Assembly.

When candidate Kim served as a member of the 19th National Assembly, he earned the nickname 'Pro-Park Stormtrooper' for his unsparing criticism of the anti-Park faction within the party.

Prior to these events, former President Park visited the birthplace of her mother, Yuk Young-soo, in Okcheon, North Chungcheong Province, around 11 AM today.

People Power Party's North Chungcheong gubernatorial candidate Kim Young-hwan, Okcheon County mayor candidate Jeon Sang-in, and National Assembly members Park Deok-heum, Uhm Tae-young, and Yoo Young-ha are expected to accompany her.

Former President Park visited Chilseong Market in Daegu on the 23rd to support the campaign rally of Daegu mayoral candidate Chu Gyo-ho. This was the first time former President Park appeared at a campaign rally since her impeachment in 2017.

Former President Park Geun-hye offers flowers before a portrait of Yuk Young-soo [Yonhap News Archive Photo]