Song Young-gil and Ko Min-jung Join Race for Democratic Party Leadership

[Anchor]

Following former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, lawmakers Song Young-gil and Ko Min-jung have announced their bids for the Democratic Party leadership. With former party leader Jung Chung-rae expected to announce his candidacy soon, the Democratic Party's national convention is shaping up to be a four-way race.

Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

Six-term lawmaker Song Young-gil declared his candidacy for party leader at the Democratic Party headquarters, emphasizing that he is the right person to support the policies and success of the Lee Jae-myung administration, including his "three mega projects."

Diagnosing the current state of the Democratic Party as a crisis, Song assessed the June 3 local elections as a defeat disguised as a victory.

[Song Young-gil/Democratic Party Lawmaker: Despite the president's approval rating nearing 70% and the achievements made through sweat and tears, the party failed to secure a landslide victory. If we treat this lightly, the next general election will be a red card.]

Song, who previously served as party leader in 2021, stated that he has "experience in rebuilding a shaken party," adding that he would resolve real estate issues and remove obstacles hindering the upward trend of the stock market.

Earlier, two-term lawmaker Ko Min-jung threw her hat into the ring for the party leadership at the National Assembly Communication Hall.

Ko expressed her ambition to take the lead in creating a Democratic Party that inherits the achievements of the Moon Jae-in administration, which she claims have been undermined by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, and supports the success of the Lee Jae-myung administration.

She further analyzed that the current Democratic Party is trapped in a "league of our own," preoccupied with factionalism that the public has no interest in.

[Ko Min-jung/Democratic Party Lawmaker: We must change. We must put aside the language of labeling and derogatory terms, acknowledge and communicate with our opponents, and find alternatives.]

Ko emphasized that she would engage in debate and communication with a vision to improve the quality of life for the public, resolve K-shaped polarization, and brighten the future of South Korea.

With Song Young-gil and Ko Min-jung joining the race following former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok on July 6, the August 17 Democratic Party national convention has officially begun in earnest.

If former party leader Jung Chung-rae, whose candidacy is considered certain, also joins the race, the Democratic Party convention will be contested as a four-way competition.

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