Kim Min-seok Announces Bid for Party Leadership, Declaring "Perfect Party-Government Unity is the Path to Victory"

Former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok announced his bid for the Democratic Party's leadership election at the Jeonil Building 245 in Gwangju today (July 6), stating, "We must restore the competent, strong, and winning Democratic Party that existed during the era of Representative Lee Jae-myung."

During his announcement today, Kim stated, "The top priority for the success of the Lee Jae-myung administration, which is our absolute task, is to achieve innovation within the Democratic Party, the ruling party."

Kim emphasized, "Over the past year, the Democratic Party has failed to translate public support for the President and the government into support for the party and election results," adding, "The harmful effects of 'self-serving politics' over the past year have led to confusion in party-government cooperation."

These remarks are interpreted as criticism directed at former Representative Jung Chung-rae, who is considered a likely candidate for a consecutive term as party leader.

"As things stand, success in state affairs, victory in the general election, and party unity are all difficult to achieve," Kim pointed out. "The lack of deliberation, insufficient discussion, procedural flaws, and lack of consistency seen in the pursuit of party mergers, discussions on prosecution reform, and nomination and election strategies have created many problems."

He continued, "We must organize things one by one, step by step," and emphasized, "Perfect unity between the party and the government, along with a pragmatic approach to people's livelihoods, is the only proven path to victory that has been verified through four previous democratic administrations."

He further stated, "I will establish relationships with other parties, factions, and individuals from the perspective of a three-part grand integration—uniting when we are the same, forming alliances when we differ, and constantly expanding—and I will push for a large-scale 'Grand Integration Plan'."

Kim said, "As Prime Minister, who was the President's partner in state affairs, I shared a deep understanding of the direction of government," adding, "I have the unique experience of having warned against martial law, designed the strategy to liquidate the insurrection, and led and steered the party to victory in local, general, and presidential elections."

"If we are not desperate and strict now, we could fall into the quagmire of defeat in the general election," Kim added. "I appeal to our party members and supporters to make the decision to replace the party leader."

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