[Anchor]

The Democratic Party's Supreme Council has decided to allow Representative Song Young-gil and former Institute for Democracy Vice Director Kim Yong to run in the party convention by granting them an exception regarding their eligibility, which had been in dispute due to unpaid party dues. Supreme Council members close to former leader Jung Chung-rae strongly opposed the decision.

Reporter Park Jae-yeon has the story.

[Reporter]

The Democratic Party held a closed-door Supreme Council meeting this morning (July 17), continuing discussions from last night regarding whether Representative Song Young-gil and former Institute for Democracy Vice Director Kim Yong are eligible to run in the party convention.

Party regulations grant the right to run for party office to party members who have paid their dues at least six times within the past year, a condition that both Representative Song and former Vice Director Kim failed to meet.

Representative Song and former Vice Director Kim argued that the unpaid dues in question occurred while they were imprisoned due to what they described as attacks by political prosecutors, and therefore should not be grounds for disqualification.

[Kim Yong / Former Vice Director of the Institute for Democracy: The gaps in our party dues payment records are precisely the time spent under prosecutorial oppression. The Democratic Party should not use the void created by political prosecutors as a reason for exclusion.]

With opinions divided, the Supreme Council held a vote and ultimately decided to grant an exception to both individuals, recognizing their eligibility as candidates.

[Kang Jun-hyun / Chief Spokesperson of the Democratic Party: We have decided to refer the matter to the Party Affairs Committee. In other words, the Supreme Council has determined that an exception should be applied.]

Supreme Council member Moon Jeong-bok, who is aligned with the pro-Jung faction, boycotted the vote in protest.

[Moon Jeong-bok / Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party: Requesting an exception is, from the perspective of an ordinary party member, an excessive and unfair benefit...]

Supreme Council members Park Ji-won and Park Gyu-hwan, also aligned with the pro-Jung faction, publicly criticized the Supreme Council's decision after the vote.

[Park Gyu-hwan / Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party: Today has become another day that leaves a stain on the history of the Democratic Party. I am deeply ashamed to have been present at that meeting...]

The final decision on whether to allow the two to run as candidates will be made at the Party Affairs Committee meeting scheduled for this afternoon.

(Video reporting: Kim Yong-woo, Video editing: Lee Seung-jin)