Who Is Engaging in 'Self-Serving Politics'? Tensions Escalate in Democratic Party Leadership Race

[Anchor]

'Self-serving politics' has recently become a key term in the war of words among Democratic Party leadership contenders.

As the internal friction within the Democratic Party intensifies ahead of next month's national convention, Park Jae-yeon reports.

[Reporter]

Former party leader Jung Chung-rae, who is set to announce his bid for the Democratic Party leadership election on August 17, posted a message on social media yesterday (July 7), stating, "Now I can speak."

Targeting former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, he directly criticized him, saying, "It is a classic example of self-serving politics for a prime minister, who should be solely focused on state affairs, to cause unnecessary trouble by making remarks about having a 'romance for party leadership' at an inappropriate time, place, and situation."

He was pointing back to comments made by the former Prime Minister during a YouTube broadcast while he was in office last January.

This comes after former Prime Minister Kim officially announced his bid for the leadership race the day before yesterday (July 6), where he directly attacked the former leader by stating, "Over the past year, the harmful effects of self-serving politics have plunged the party into confusion." Jung has effectively launched a counterattack.

[Jung Chung-rae/Former Democratic Party Leader: I believe a prime minister should focus only on state affairs and should not make remarks that could be misinterpreted regarding party matters.]

Former Prime Minister Kim retorted that during the former leader's tenure, there was a lack of discussion and coordination in the process of addressing major internal party issues, such as prosecution reform and candidate nominations.

[Kim Min-seok/Former Prime Minister: It is now time for us to debate and for party members to evaluate what truly constitutes the harmful effects of self-serving politics that have brought difficulties to our party over the past year...]

Supporters of the former leader have launched a proxy war against the former Prime Minister, questioning, "Why did you fail to participate in the National Assembly's vote to lift martial law in December 2024?" Meanwhile, supporters of the former Prime Minister have criticized the former leader, claiming he "amplified internal party conflict and caused the leadership to waste its capabilities on internal disputes."

Amid growing concerns within the Democratic Party over the heating up of mudslinging, Representative Song Young-gil and Representative Ko Min-jung are also scheduled to announce their bids for the leadership race today.

(Video reporting: Oh Young-chun, Shin Dong-hwan, Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Yoo Mi-ra | Design: Jang Chae-woo, Jang Seong-beom, Hwang Se-yeon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.