[2021 Minju JeonDae] 'Chinmun' Party Members' Votes Decided the Outcome... Seo Samsuk and Hwang Myeongseon Failed to Pass the Threshold (Comprehensive)

5·2 Party Convention, Song Young-gil Elected Party Leader
Five Members Including Kim Yong-min, Kang Byung-won, Baek Hye-ryun, Kim Young-bae, and Jeon Hye-sook Elected as Supreme Council Members
Party Members' Votes Decide Outcome
Seo Sam-seok with Single-Digit Party Member Vote Share and Mayor Hwang Myung-seon Fail

[Asia Economy Reporters Joo-yeon Oh, Chae-eun Koo, Jin-young Jeon] On the 2nd, the Democratic Party of Korea held a party convention at its headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, and elected a new leadership team. On this day, Song Young-gil won the party leader position with 35.6% of the vote, defeating Woo Won-shik (29.38%) and Hong Young-pyo (35.01%). Among the seven candidates for Supreme Council members, five were newly elected: Kim Yong-min, Kang Byung-won, Baek Hye-ryun, Kim Young-bae, and Jeon Hye-sook.

The key point in this Supreme Council election was whether the 'Pro-Moon (Pro-Moon Jae-in)' faction members would be elected. The voting results indicated that the votes of pro-Moon party members were decisive in determining the candidates' success or failure.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Kim Yong-min, a representative 'Pro-Moon' and 'Pro-Jo Guk' figure, recorded the highest vote share of 17.73%. Born in Seoul in 1976, he was active in the Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun) and has been a central figure in the 'Cheoreomhoe,' a group of hardline first-term lawmakers within the party, gaining support from pro-Moon party members. In the National Assembly, he has been dedicated to prosecutorial reform centered around former Minister Cho Kuk as a member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and at the end of last year, he proposed a bill to abolish the Prosecutor's Office and establish a Public Prosecution Office. In a recent interview with Asia Economy, Kim emphasized, "If I enter the leadership, I will consistently advocate for uninterrupted reform."

Kang Byung-won, a member of the pro-Moon 'Owl Group,' was also elected as a Supreme Council member with a total vote share of 17.28%. Kang, from Gochang, Jeonbuk, has experience serving as an aide to former President Roh Moo-hyun. Classified as part of the pro-Moon mainstream, he received support from strong party members.

Kim Young-bae, a first-term lawmaker in the 21st National Assembly, served as the mayor of Seongbuk District for eight years and held key positions as a secretary in the Policy Planning Committee during the Roh Moo-hyun administration and as a policy coordination secretary in the current government. He is regarded as a core pro-Moon figure and a 'policy expert.' Elected as a Supreme Council member with 13.46% of the vote, he recently told Asia Economy that if he joins the leadership, he will focus on youth employment, labor issues, and real-demand-centered housing supply policies.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This time, female candidates Jeon Hye-sook and Baek Hye-ryun were both elected as Supreme Council members, drawing attention. Jeon Hye-sook, from Chilgok, Gyeongbuk, is the only three-term lawmaker among the Supreme Council candidates. She is considered a representative figure of the Lee Nak-yeon faction, supported by pro-Moon party members' '114 voting' campaign. Jeon was elected with a total vote share of 12.32%.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Baek Hye-ryun, who served as the secretary of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, received strong support from delegates and party members and was elected with a total vote share of 17.21%, the third highest after Kim Yong-min and Kang Byung-won. Baek is known to be close to Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung. Some viewed the competition between the female candidates Baek and Jeon, who is affiliated with the pro-Lee Nak-yeon faction, as a gauge for next year's presidential primary, but ultimately, both candidates secured positions as Supreme Council members.

On the other hand, Seo Sam-seok and Hwang Myung-seon, mayor of Nonsan, faced defeat in this election.

Seo Sam-seok, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker. / Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Seo, who served as the elected mayor of Muan County for the 3rd to 5th terms and was re-elected as a lawmaker, ran for Supreme Council member with the support of re-elected lawmakers from the Gwangju and Jeonnam regions. Following the mid-term withdrawal of Yang Hyang-ja, a Supreme Council member from Gwangju, Seo was effectively regarded as the representative candidate of Honam. Notably, he was seen as a mediator between the so-called 'hardline pro-Moon' and 'pan-pro-Moon' factions, stepping back from factional conflicts. However, he received only a single-digit vote share (9.95%) from party members, and although his delegate vote share (13.60%) surpassed that of Kim Yong-min, his final combined vote share (11.11%) placed him outside the ranking.

Hwang, the only Supreme Council candidate who is not a lawmaker (served as mayor of Nonsan for the 37th, 38th, and 39th terms), despite a high delegate vote share (14.67%), failed to gain support from party members (6.87%). Following Yeom Tae-young, mayor of Suwon and the first sitting local government head to become a Supreme Council member last year, Hwang aimed to continue the 'local autonomy and decentralization' agenda but could not surpass the pro-Moon threshold. Party members cast their votes for Kim Young-bae, who presented the same agenda. Hwang's total vote share was 10.89%.

Meanwhile, the results of the party convention were announced by combining 45% from national delegate votes, 40% from party member votes, 5% from general party member opinion polls, and 10% from public opinion polls.

In the delegate vote, 14,365 out of 15,905 delegates participated, recording a turnout rate of 90.32%. In the party member vote, 296,885 out of 694,559 party members participated, showing a turnout rate of 42.74%.

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