Jung Cheong-rae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who lost in the party leadership election, stated on August 17, "I may have lost in numbers, but I do not believe my supporters lost their passion." Jung made these remarks after narrowly losing to Kim Min-seok in a competitive vote at the party's third regular national convention held at the Daejeon Convention Center.
After the convention, Jung expressed his gratitude to party members who chanted, "I got it. I will vote for Jung Cheong-rae." He added, "I later realized that your desire for my election was more urgent than mine. I apologize for that." He emphasized, "Seeing supporters who were more desperate than I was made me reflect and regret, thinking, 'I should have worked a little harder.'"
Jung also remarked, "Organizations cannot overcome the wind, but this time it seems that the organization was too strong. A skilled archer does not calculate the wind when shooting, and I was unable to be that skilled archer."
He continued, "It is not that my call for a strong reformist party leader was wrong, but rather that I was lacking. I lost, but those who supported me won in passion. I will walk forward, using your tears as my shoes."
In the party convention, Jung received 45.92% of the preference votes, losing to Kim, who garnered 54.08%. The preference voting system is used when no candidate receives a majority in the first round, allowing second-choice votes from the third-place candidate to be counted to determine the winner.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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