Do we like them?

Do we like Kim Kyoung-soo?

Our score: 5 out of 10. A decent-looking record on harm but a thin one, plus a court conviction he has disputed, so it sits in the middle.

Kim Kyoung-soo (also spelled Kim Kyung-soo) is a veteran of Korea's Democratic Party camp. He served as governor of South Gyeongsang Province from 2018 until a court ruling ended his term in July 2021. Profiles describe him as a figure from the pro-Moon Jae-in wing of the party.

The story that defines him is the so-called Druking case, an online comment-manipulation scandal. In July 2021 the Supreme Court upheld a two-year prison term against him on a business-obstruction count, cleared him on the election-law charge, and he lost the governorship. Kim has disputed the case, and reporting says he refused to accept a pardon he saw as a political trade.

That pardon came anyway in December 2022 as a New Year's special pardon that exempted the rest of his sentence but did not restore his right to run. A Liberation Day pardon in August 2024 followed, and the following February he rejoined the Democratic Party. In April 2025 he declared a run for the presidency.

On the harm test, we found nothing: no reported slurs, conspiracy theories or campaigns against any group, in the English-language coverage we could reach. The catch is that coverage is mostly about domestic party politics, and we found nothing on his position on LGBTQ+ rights, such as South Korea's long-stalled anti-discrimination bill, or on climate. Treat that as silence, not a clean sheet.

Honest verdict: a seasoned politician with a courtroom stain he contests and no sign of harmful campaigning, but we couldn't pull the full articles or his voting record this time, so the picture is incomplete. If his stance on equality matters to you, check it before you cheer.