Democratic Party Leadership Candidates Clash Over Registration Fees

[Anchor]

Ahead of the Democratic Party's national convention, candidates for party leader have engaged in a fierce war of nerves during their first joint speech session. As criticism continues that the registration fees required for candidates are too high, the party's election management committee plans to decide today, July 21, whether to adjust the amount.

Reporter Park Jae-yeon has the story.

[Reporter]

The Democratic Party's joint speech session was held one day before the start of the preliminary primary for the August 17 national convention.

Former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok directly attacked former party leader Jung Chung-rae, stating that he should not serve consecutive terms because he is responsible for conflicts between the party and the administration, as well as election defeats.

[Kim Min-seok / Former Prime Minister: We must end the 'Myeong-Cheong War.' A party leader who causes conflict between the party and the government through self-serving politics and the privatization of the party is not acceptable.]

Former party leader Jung Chung-rae emphasized that he would complete key reform tasks, including prosecution reform.

[Jung Chung-rae / Former Democratic Party Leader: The identity of the Democratic Party is reform. I will reform and reform again. The Democratic Party has won when it reformed, and has been ignored when it failed to reform.]

Former party leader Song Young-gil took aim at former leader Jung, arguing that one should speak of results and responsibility rather than just talking about reform.

[Song Young-gil / Former Democratic Party Leader: Results can differ from the motives (of reform). The ruling party is not a commentator. It is responsible for the results.]

Representative Ko Min-jung emphasized overcoming factional conflicts within the party.

[Ko Min-jung / Democratic Party Representative: We cannot open up the future with the politics of division, where people are divided into pro-Myeong, anti-Myeong, pro-Seok, and pro-Cheong factions, pointing fingers at each other.]

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party's election management committee is scheduled to decide at a meeting today whether to adjust the amount of registration fees that candidates running for the national convention must pay.

[Han Byung-do / Democratic Party Floor Leader: The Democratic Party will have the election management committee re-discuss related issues and present a reasonable alternative so that money does not become a barrier to entry into politics.]

The Democratic Party had initially raised the registration fees to a maximum of 100 million won for party leader candidates and 50 million won for supreme council member candidates, but it has caused controversy within the party, with President Lee Jae-myung mentioning on July 19 that it could be a significant burden on young candidates.

(Video coverage: Oh Young-chun, Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Nam Il)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.