Kim Doo-kwan, governor of South Gyeongsang Province and a key aide to the late President Roh Moo-hyun, joined the main opposition Democratic United Party on Thursday.

“With parliamentary and presidential elections taking place this year, I decided to join the Democratic United Party to add whatever might I have to the liberal forces and their consolidation,” he said at a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul.

Kim, who served as home affairs minister under Roh, left the Democratic Party, a precursor of the DUP, in 2008. Two years later he won the gubernatorial election in the ruling conservatives’ stronghold of South Gyeongsang as an independent.

Nicknamed “little Roh Moo-hyun” for his down-to-earth, upright character and unbending principles, the 53-year-old is considered promising presidential material for liberals.

“I will focus on the governor’s job,” he answered to a question on whether he would run for a parliamentary seat in the April 11 parliamentary election.

“The changes within the Democratic United Party are not sufficient to satisfy me or most people,” he said, calling for the party chiefs to step up efforts to unite opposition forces against the ruling Saenuri Party.

As poll numbers go up, some within the party appear to be thinking that the party can win the election without the trouble of forming a united opposition front against the Saenuri, he said. “Only when we hold together will we seize victory.”

DUP chairwoman Han Myeong-sook hailed his return, hoping that it would lead to a boost in the party’s support in the region.

“It is meaningful in that Gyeongsang and Busan are key strategic battlegrounds for us to win the parliamentary election,” she said.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, an independent civic activist who won the mayoral election in October on the backing of the DUP, is expected to follow suit next week.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)