Seodaemun A

Seodaemun A (Korean: 서대문구 갑) is a constituency of the National Assembly of South Korea. The constituency consists of parts of Seodaemun District, Seoul. As of 2024, 130,042 eligible voters were registered in the constituency. The constituency was created in 1988 from the Seodaemun–Eunpyeong constituency.

Seodaemun A
Single-member constituency for the National Assembly
Location of the constituency
District(s)	Seodaemun District (part)
Region	Seoul
Electorate	130,042 (2024)
Current constituency
Created	1988
Seats	1
Party	Democratic Party
Member(s)	Kim Dong-ah
Created from	Seodaemun–Eunpyeong

History

Throughout its history, Seodaemun A has elected members of both liberal and conservative parties to represent the constituency. Accordingly, Seodaemun A has historically been considered a bellwether constituency by political analysts.^[1] However, in recent elections the Democratic Party has been dominant with four consecutive wins in the constituency. Therefore, some analysts consider the constituency as becoming a stronghold for the Democratic Party.^[2]

Kang Seong-mo of the right-wing Democratic Justice Party was the first member to represent the constituency having won with 37.04% of the vote.^[3][4][5] Kang lost his bid for re-election and was succeeded by Kim Sang-hyun of the centre-left Democratic Party.^[6] Kim won re-election in 1996 but was not re-nominated ahead of the 2000 election.^[7] He was succeeded by Lee Sung-heon of the centre-right Grand National Party who won in a tight race against Woo Sang-ho of the Millennium Democratic Party.^[8] Lee Sung-heon and Woo Sang-ho would continue to face off in rematches in Seodaemun A as the mainstream conservative and liberal party candidates respectively until the 2020 South Korean legislative election.^[9][10]

In the 2004 South Korean legislative election, Woo Sang-ho of the Uri Party narrowly defeated incumbent Lee Sung-heon by a margin of 1,899 votes.^[3][11][12] However, in the following election held in 2008, Lee won the seat back by a wide margin and securing 51.64% of the vote.^[3][13][14] In the 2012 election, Woo won the seat back, securing 54.36% of the vote in a one-on-one battle against Lee Sung-heon.^[3][15][16] Woo won re-election in 2016 and 2020 with 54.88% and 53.24% of the vote respectively, defeating former assemblyman Lee Sung-heon in both matches.^{[3][17][18][19][20]}

Ahead of the 2024 South Korean legislative election, Woo Sang-ho announced that he would not be standing for re-election in Seodaemun A.^[21] After holding a party primary, the Democratic Party nominated lawyer Kim Dong-ah as the party's candidate for the constituency on March 11, 2024.^[22][23] Kim Dong-ah went on to win the general election with 50.75% of the vote, defeating Lee Yong-ho of the People Power Party.^[24]

Boundaries

The constituency encompasses the neighborhoods of Hongje 1-dong, Hongje 2-dong, Bugahyeon-dong, Cheonyeon-dong, Chunghyeon-dong, Sinchon-dong, and Yeonhui-dong. It borders the constituencies of Seodaemun B to the north, Mapo B to the west, Mapo A to the south, Jung–Seongdong B and Jongno to the east.^[25]

List of members of the National Assembly

Election		Member	Party	Dates	Notes
	1988	Kang Seong-mo	Democratic Justice	1988–1992
	1992	Kim Sang-hyun	Democratic	1992–2000	Left the Millennium Democratic Party and joined the Democratic People's Party on February 27, 2000[26]
	1996		National Congress[a]
	2000	Lee Sung-heon	Grand National	2000–2004
	2004	Woo Sang-ho	Uri	2004–2008
	2008	Lee Sung-heon	Grand National	2008–2012
	2012	Woo Sang-ho	Democratic United	2012–2024	Floor leader of the Democratic Party (2016–2017) Interim leader of the Democratic Party (2022)
	2016		Democratic
	2020
	2024	Kim Dong-ah		2024–present

Election results

2024

Legislative Election 2024: Seodaemun A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Kim Dong-ah	44,890	50.75	2.49
	People Power	Lee Yong-ho	38,466	43.49	1.85
	Reform	Lee Kyung-sun	5,087	5.75	new
Rejected ballots			1,506	–
Turnout			89,949	69.2	0.15
Registered electors			130,042
	Democratic hold		Swing

2020

Legislative Election 2020: Seodaemun A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Woo Sang-ho	47,980	53.24	1.64
	United Future	Lee Sung-heon	37,522	41.64	1.37
	Independent	Shin Ji-ye	2,916	3.23	new
	Minjung	Jeon Jin-hee	1,026	1.13	new
	National Revolutionary	Ko Sang-il	331	0.36	new
	Our Republican	Shin Min-ho	330	0.36	new
Rejected ballots			991	–
Turnout			91,096	69.05	6.83
Registered electors			131,930
	Democratic hold		Swing

2016

Legislative Election 2016: Seodaemun A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Woo Sang-ho	42,972	54.88	0.52
	Saenuri	Lee Sung-heon	31,529	40.27	5.36
	Green	Kim Young-jun	2,206	2.81	new
	Minjoo	Lee Jong-hwa	1,586	2.02	new
Rejected ballots			1,138	–
Turnout			79,431	62.22	4.74
Registered electors			127,642
	Democratic hold		Swing

2012

Legislative Election 2012: Seodaemun A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic United	Woo Sang-ho	40,481	54.36	10.87
	Saenuri	Lee Sung-heon	33,982	45.63	6.01
Rejected ballots			656	–
Turnout			75,119	57.48	9.17
Registered electors			130,670
	Democratic United gain from Saenuri		Swing

2008

Legislative Election 2008: Seodaemun A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Grand National	Lee Sung-heon	33,463	51.64	7.83
	United Democratic	Woo Sang-ho	28,185	43.49	new
	New Progressive	Chung Hyeon-jeong	2,637	4.06	new
	Family Party for Peace and Unity	Noh Hak-woo	509	0.78	new
Rejected ballots			562	–
Turnout			65,356	48.31	15.49
Registered electors			135,281
	Grand National gain from United Democratic		Swing

2004

Legislative Election 2004: Seodaemun A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Uri	Woo Sang-ho	38,795	46.06	new
	Grand National	Lee Sung-heon	36,896	43.81	3.2
	Millennium Democratic	Kim Young-ho	3,893	4.62	40.54
	Democratic Labor	Chung Hyeon-jeong	3,721	4.41	new
	United Liberal Democrats	Park Jong-won	529	0.62	1.56
	Independent	Koh Eun-seok	384	0.45	new
Rejected ballots			649	–
Turnout			133,030	63.80	8.18
Registered electors			133,030
	Uri gain from Grand National		Swing

2000

Legislative Election 2000: Seodaemun A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Grand National	Lee Sung-heon	34,623	47.01	7.7
	Millennium Democratic	Woo Sang-ho	33,259	45.16	new
	Democratic People's	Lee Dong-woo	2,128	2.89	new
	Youth Progressive	Park Se-jeung	2,029	2.76	new
	United Liberal Democrats	Lee Ui-dal	1,604	2.18	5.05
Rejected ballots			630	–
Turnout			74,273	55.62	4.0
Registered electors			133,530
	Grand National gain from Democratic People's		Swing

1996

Legislative Election 1996: Seodaemun A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Congress	Kim Sang-hyun	29,979	40.10	new
	New Korea	Lee Sung-heon	29,388	39.31	1.11
	Democratic	Park Kyung-san	8,610	11.51	new
	United Liberal Democrats	Lee Ui-dal	5,407	7.23	new
	Independent	Koh Eun-seok	1,372	1.83	–
Rejected ballots			1,052	–
Turnout			75,808	59.62	10.83
Registered electors			127,154
	National Congress hold		Swing

1992

Legislative Election 1992: Seodaemun A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Kim Sang-hyun	42,591	45.49	new
	Democratic Liberal	Kang Seong-mo	37,843	40.42	new
	Unification National	Ryu Gap-jong	13,178	14.07	new
Rejected ballots			1,177	–
Turnout			94,789	70.45	0.3
Registered electors			134,548
	Democratic gain from Democratic Liberal		Swing

1988

Legislative Election 1988: Seodaemun A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic Justice	Kang Seong-mo	36,097	37.04	–
	Reunification Democratic	Kim Sang-hyun	30,598	31.39	–
	Peace Democratic	Kim Hak-min	23,054	23.65	–
	New Democratic Republican	Shin Soon-won	5,621	5.76	–
	Our Justice	Oh Jae-kwan	1,341	1.37	–
	Independent	Koh Eun-seok	736	0.75	–
Rejected ballots			765	–
Turnout			98,212	70.75	–
Registered electors			138,825
	Democratic Justice win (new seat)

See also

• List of constituencies of the National Assembly of South Korea

Notes

1. member of the Democratic People's Party from February 27, 2000