Democratic Party's Next Leadership to Be Decided Today... Kim Min-seok Currently in 1st Place

[Anchor]

The Democratic Party's next leadership will be decided shortly around 6:00 PM. In the cumulative vote counts so far, candidate Kim Min-seok is leading candidate Jung Chung-rae by an 8.4 percentage point margin.

Let's connect with our reporter at the party convention site. Reporter Park Yerim, what is the atmosphere like there?

[Reporter]

Yes, I am currently at the Daejeon Convention Center, where the Democratic Party convention is taking place.

The final speeches by the Supreme Council candidates are currently underway.

Today, August 17, the party's new leader and five Supreme Council members will be elected.

The final winners will be decided after 6:00 PM today by combining the rank-and-file party member votes held up until yesterday, today's scheduled delegate votes making up 70%, and a public opinion poll accounting for 30%.

The cumulative vote counts so far stand at 49.91% for Kim Min-seok and 41.51% for Jung Chung-rae, with candidate Kim leading candidate Jung by an 8.4 percentage point margin.

During yesterday's joint speeches, the three candidates appealed for votes, each claiming to be the right person to ensure the success of the Lee Jae-myung administration.

[Kim Min-seok / Democratic Party Leadership Candidate : The party must be stabilized. That is how the party and government relations will stabilize. That is how the government will stabilize. That is how the economy will stabilize.]

[Jung Chung-rae / Democratic Party Leadership Candidate : Those who keep loyalty are the ones who stay loyal. Those who betray once can betray again.]

[Song Young-gil / Democratic Party Leadership Candidate : I will take the lead in making the North Korea-U.S. summit a success and transforming the Cold War issue on the Korean Peninsula.]

For the five Supreme Council positions, candidates Choi Min-hee, Park Sun-won, Seo Mi-hwa, Lee Seong-yun, and Han Min-su have entered the winning zone.

The current configuration features three pro-Chung candidates and two pro-Lee candidates. However, as candidates Lim Mi-ae and Kim Young-ho resigned yesterday urging supporters to pool their votes for the 6th-place candidate Kim Yong, we will have to see if there will be any last-minute ranking changes.

(Live Production: Seo Jin-ho, Video Coverage: Kim Yong-woo)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.