Kim Min-seok, a candidate for the Democratic Party's leadership election in August, reiterated on July 8 that the "self-politics issues" he mentioned during his candidacy announcement stemmed from a lack of internal debate and deliberation over the past year. He also addressed various pressing issues, including the merger with the Innovation Party and the abolition of supplementary investigative powers.
Appearing on the YouTube channel "Kim Eo-jun's News Factory," Kim elaborated on the self-politics issues he raised during his announcement on July 6, including the leadership of former party head Jung Cheong-rae, the merger with the Innovation Party, and prosecutorial reform.
Kim pointed out that while President Lee Jae-myung has improved his approval ratings, the party's support has consistently declined. He stated, "The results of the local elections did not match the predictions made just before the vote. We need to evaluate these two aspects soberly."
He explained that he used the term "self-politics" to summarize the reasons behind this situation, noting that the lack of discussion and deliberation during the merger process placed significant burdens on the cooperation between the party and the government.
Kim criticized the way the merger with the Innovation Party was announced, describing it as a "bombshell declaration" by former party head Jung, which ultimately had a negative impact on the party. He stated, "Traditionally, the Democratic Party raises issues, which then go through practical discussions and deliberations within the leadership before being publicized. However, this issue was announced in a bombshell manner. Due to personal overreach, the necessary procedures were skipped, complicating matters."
He also dismissed claims that President Lee had directed the party to pursue an integrated convention with the Innovation Party in August, stating, "It is not true that the president gave instructions to push for the August integrated convention. This has never been discussed, not just by me but also among key members of the ruling party."
Additionally, Kim emphasized the need to finalize the prosecutorial reform plan, which includes the abolition of supplementary investigative powers, by the end of this month. He stated, "I had aimed to complete the prosecutorial reform by May. Therefore, I plan to proceed as quickly as possible, ideally finishing by the end of July."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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