Former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok officially enters the leadership race for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), ahead of the party’s Aug. 17 convention. At the convention, party members will elect a new chairperson and members of the party’s Supreme Council for a two-year term. Kim, a four-term lawmaker who previously served as the first prime minister under the Lee Jae Myung administration, announces his bid in Gwangju, a southwestern stronghold for the liberal bloc. He presents his candidacy as an effort to bring the DPK into closer alignment with the presidential office and to address what he describes as a breakdown in party-government relations under the outgoing leadership.
Kim says he will use his experience from managing elections at local, parliamentary and presidential levels to support both the party and the government. He also argues the DPK has not effectively converted public approval for the Lee administration into electoral success and party support. He points to the party’s performance in recent local elections, saying it won 12 of 16 mayoral and gubernatorial seats on June 3 but lost key contests, including the Seoul mayoral race.
