Park Ju-min Declares Candidacy for Party Leader... Party Leadership Race Turns into a 'Three-Way Battle'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Nahum Kang, Jinyoung Jeon] Park Jumin, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced his candidacy for the party leader election on the 21st. With this, the party leadership race expanded from a two-way contest between Lee Nak-yeon and Kim Boo-kyum to a three-way race.

On the same day, Park held a press conference at the National Assembly and declared his candidacy, saying, "I will create the first party to change the era."

Park pointed out, "The current state of the party is that it is not present on the ground, does not boldly communicate with the people, and fails to trust the people and take bold action. I am also concerned that we may be turning the people into mere spectators who only worry."

He continued, "It is necessary not only to focus on the opposition but to open a forum for social dialogue with the power of 176 seats and persuade the opposition with the solutions and strength gained there. I will go to the field and work actively. I will actively open the forum for social dialogue."

Park emphasized that "the party's innovation must continue," promising to achieve innovation in two directions: structural aspects and values.

As structural innovations, he proposed ▲significantly strengthening the role of the Policy Committee ▲holding joint meetings on social agendas ▲strengthening regional committees. Regarding values, he pledged to elevate environmental values, gender values, labor values, safety values, solidarity values, and fairness values to the level of mainstream values.

Park also promised to complete reform tasks. He said, "Power institutions and the media must find their proper place so that society can solve problems through democratic processes," adding, "We will vigorously, fearlessly, and continuously push forward reforms of power institutions such as parliamentary reform, prosecution reform, police reform, intelligence agency reform, and improvements in media-related systems."

Regarding the other two competitors, Park said, "They are so excellent that no further words are needed. It is an honor to compete with these two respected individuals," but also expressed concern, "Compared to them, I am infinitely small and light, and I worry whether it is right for me to compete with them."

He added, "I judged that it is necessary to put aside personal prospects and goals and step forward for the future of the party," and said, "Despite being still considered young within the party, I throw my hat into the ring with hope that my challenge can bring about great change together with party members and the people."

Meanwhile, on the last day of candidate registration for the party convention, Lee Nak-yeon, former Kim Boo-kyum, and Park Jumin completed their registration as candidates for party leader, making the leadership election a three-way race.

For the five elected Supreme Council members, a total of eight people, including lawmakers Lee Jae-jung, Lee Won-wook, Noh Woong-rae, So Byung-hoon, Kim Jong-min, Han Byung-do, Yang Hyang-ja, and Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young, have either completed registration or declared their candidacy. Including lawmaker Shin Dong-geun, who is still considering running, it is expected that nine candidates will compete.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.