DPK Holds Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Primary Today: Kim Min-seok Aims for 2nd Win, Jeong Chung-rae Seeks Rebound

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is holding its regional primary tour for the Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongnam regions today (August 2) for its August 17 national convention to elect new leadership.

Attention is focused on whether candidate Kim Min-seok, who secured a narrow victory in the rank-and-file party member vote in the Chungcheong region yesterday, will maintain momentum for a second consecutive win, or if candidate Jeong Chung-rae, viewed as having the upper hand in Busan's organizational strength, can create a momentum for a turnaround.

The DPK will hold joint speech rallies for the regional primaries starting in Ulsan this morning, followed by Busan and South Gyeongnam.

Following the Gyeongnam regional rally in Changwon, the results of the Yeongnam region rank-and-file member vote are scheduled to be announced.

In this national convention, where a "one person, one vote" system is applied for the first time, the reflection rates for the party leadership election electorate are 70% for delegates and rank-and-file members, and 30% for the general public, respectively.

Only the rank-and-file member votes are revealed during the regional primary tour.

The final winner will be determined at the national convention in Daejeon on August 17 by combining the results of the delegate and general public votes.

In yesterday's party member vote for the Chungcheong region (South Chungcheong, North Chungcheong, Daejeon, and Sejong), candidate Kim took 45.05% of the vote, edging out candidate Jeong (44.61%) by a margin of 0.44 percentage points.

Candidate Song Young-gil received 10.34% of the vote.

While it was a narrow victory, it holds significant meaning for Kim as it was a triumph achieved on the "home turf" of Jeong, whose hometown is Geumsan, South Chungcheong Province.

Before entering the primaries, Kim appeared on a YouTube broadcast and adopted an "underdog strategy," predicting that he would "fall slightly behind" in the first week of primaries held in the Chungcheong and Yeongnam regions.

If Kim, who successfully seized the initiative contrary to expectations, even wins the Yeongnam regional primary—widely considered a weaker territory for him—he could potentially establish an early "bandwagon effect."

Jeong plans to move past his defeat in the primary and aim for a mood turnaround by winning the Yeongnam regional primary.

Although Jeong suffered a setback in Chungcheong, his home region, encouraging points include his victory in the Daejeon party member vote and his winning of a majority (50.28%) in Sejong.

Some analysts suggest he has high expectations, particularly because the Yeongnam region is considered the stronghold of the pro-Roh (pro-Roh Moo-hyun) and pro-Moon (pro-Moon Jae-in) factions, where Jeong is evaluated to hold an advantage.

Candidate Song is looking to bounce back from his sluggish start in the first primary and hopes for a strong showing in the Yeongnam region.

His strategy is to emphasize that he is the sole candidate from the Honam region and pull off a dramatic reversal in Honam, the ultimate battleground.

Writing on Facebook, Song stated, "One million rank-and-file members in Honam and the capital area will vote in the final week of this national convention, making it effectively a one-shot primary," adding, "I will definitely cause an upset on the final stage."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.