Kim Min-seok, former Prime Minister, and Song Young-gil, a member of the National Assembly, who have declared their candidacies for the leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea, will visit Gyeonggi and Honam, respectively, on July 11 to connect with voters. Additionally, Jung Cheong-rae's candidacy appears to be imminent.
Kim will visit Yongin in the morning and Seongnam in the afternoon. Notably, Seongnam is the political hometown of President Lee Jae-myung, which is expected to highlight Kim's alignment with the pro-Lee faction. He will also hold a youth forum, aiming to engage the 2030 generation amid a recent decline in youth support for the party.
Meanwhile, Song plans to hold a meeting with the Traditional Market Association in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, in the morning and visit local markets. In the afternoon, he will conduct a town hall meeting with party members in Iksan to strengthen communication. Honam is significant, as it is home to about 30% of the party's active members, which could influence the outcome of the party convention.
The upcoming party convention is scheduled for August 17 in Daejeon. In addition to Kim and Song, lawmakers Ko Min-jeong and former Gangjin County Council Chair Kim Bo-mi have also announced their candidacies.
There are speculations that Kim and Song, both aligned with the pro-Lee faction, may unite to counter Jung, who is seen as a strong candidate. Recently, tensions have escalated between the pro-Lee and pro-Chung factions within the party.
Furthermore, predictions suggest that Jung's candidacy is imminent. Candidate registration will take place over two days starting on the 16th, and he is expected to announce his candidacy soon.
Jung has been actively positioning himself as a candidate, having attended the Jeonbuk Provincial Party Committee's executive meeting the previous day. At this event, he and Kim engaged in a verbal exchange, each asserting their qualifications for the party leadership.
Kim remarked, "There were pains and conflicts during the process of winning the 6.3 local elections," to which Jung responded, "As far as I remember, Jeonbuk won the most significantly. We elected a metropolitan mayor and won in 14 local governments. All regional council members were elected in their districts with 100% success."
The Democratic Party expelled former Jeonbuk Governor Kim Kwan-young immediately after allegations of bribery surfaced during the local election primaries. However, Kim opposed this decision and ran as an independent. In contrast, former Jeonbuk Governor Lee Won-taek completed the primary despite facing allegations of covering meal expenses and defeated lawmaker Ahn Ho-young. Ahn later protested the party's internal investigation into Lee, which he deemed insufficient, leading him to engage in a hunger strike that resulted in his hospitalization.
This situation has raised concerns about fairness within the party. There are suspicions that Jung's influence may have played a role in the disciplinary discussions regarding Lee, who is aligned with the pro-Chung faction, while Kim and Ahn are associated with the pro-Lee faction.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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