Chapel Hill -- Augustus Cho, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, is challenging U.S. Rep. David Price for the 4th District seat.

Cho, 49, said Thursday his run for Congress will serve to "remind the incumbent that the seat belongs to the people."

Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, is serving his 10th term in Congress.

"Even the presidency ends at some point," joked Cho before about a dozen supporters in a conference room at the Board of Elections office in Hillsborough, where he made his announcement.

Cho said, if he's elected, he would seek to serve six to eight years and then encourage others to run in his place.

He laid out four main issues Friday: preventing illegal immigrants from staying in the United States, funding the war in Iraq and other efforts to stop Muslim extremists, supporting President Bush's proposed tax cuts, and shifting dependence on foreign oil to domestic energy resources.

Cho called himself an environmentalist but said Price and others have let environmental extremists keep the United States from fully tapping its own oil reserves.

Cho immigrated to the United States with his mother and grandmother when he was 10. A former Presbyterian minister and tae kwon do instructor, Cho is a writer raising two children in Chapel Hill. He has been writing a monthly My View column for the Chapel Hill News. His column will go on hiatus during his run.

Illegal immigrants are "flouting our laws" by being in the United States and breaking laws such as driving under the influence of alcohol, Cho said.

Melodie Parrish, chairwoman of the Durham County Republican Party, said defeating Price would be an "awesome task" and that Cho has been active within the local Republican party.

She is hoping his minority status may help him reach more people than a non-minority Republican might reach.

Martha Jenkins, District 4 Republican chairwoman, said two other Republicans have expressed interest in running, but declined to say who they were. She said she did not know them before they introduced themselves to the district committee.

The 4th congressional district covers Orange and Durham counties and parts of Wake and Chatham counties.

Price's spokesman, Paul Cox, said Price will not focus on the 2008 election until it comes time to file early next year.