A five-term lawmaker and former opposition leader announced Tuesday his bid to run for president in December, pledging to focus on the economy, jobs for ordinary people and small and medium firms in a country that relies heavily on exports.

Rep. Chung Sye-kyun of the main opposition Democratic United Party is the fourth candidate who has officially announced a presidential bid in the liberal party, following Moon Jae-in, a longtime aide to late former President Roh Moo-hyun, former party chairman Sohn Hak-kyu and Cho Kyoung-tae, a three-term lawmaker.

The 62-year-old has been elected four times in North Jeolla Province and won a seat in April’s general elections in Seoul’s Jongno, a key district where incumbent President Lee Myung-bak and Roh also previously won seats in the National Assembly.

In a statement, Chung pledged to maximize social welfare on the balanced growth path and establish a democratic government.

“I will become an ‘economy president’ who work for middle-class people and ordinary people,” Chung said at a press briefing at a traditional market in his own electorate.

“Changing industry dominance from big firms to small and medium firms will create more jobs and boost domestic demand,” said Chung, who had served as a senior executive at SsangYong Group in the early 1990s. “We should build a virtuous cycle in which increased domestic demand reinforces investment and production.”

Chung served as industry minister under the Roh administration in 2006 and took the helm of the main opposition party in 2010. 

(Yonhap News)