SEOUL-- President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol traveled to the southwestern Jeolla provinces on Wednesday to meet with locals on a trip that is also seen as aimed at offering support to candidates running in the June local elections.

On the first leg of what will be a three-day trip, Yoon headed to Jeonju, where he visited the National Pension Service, before heading to Gwangju and Yeongam to visit industrial sites.

Through the visit, the president-elect plans to keep his campaign promise to return after the election and inspect the locals' livelihoods, his spokesperson, Bae Hyun-jin, said in a written briefing.

On his flight there, he was briefed on the development of the Saemangeum area in North Jeolla Province and viewed the reclaimed land from the air, she said.

The trip is part of a national tour Yoon began last week with a visit to the southeastern city of Daegu and the surrounding area, a stronghold of his conservative People Power Party.

This week's trip took him to the liberal Jeolla provinces and will be followed by visits to South Gyeongsang Province and Busan on Thursday and Friday.

Instead of spending the night in Jeolla on Wednesday, Yoon will briefly return to Seoul in the evening to meet with transition team chief Ahn Cheol-soo and offer his condolences over the death of Ahn's father on Tuesday, Bae said.

On Thursday, the president-elect will continue on his tour.

The visit is widely seen as an opportunity for Yoon to offer his tacit approval of his party's candidates for the June 1 local elections, including a Gwangju mayoral candidate known as one of his closest former colleagues in the prosecution.

Source: Yonhap News Agency