Kim Du-kwan Launches Full-Scale Presidential Bid, Book Launch for 'There Was No Flower Path' on the 9th of Next Month

Confession of Misjudgments Including 2012 Presidential Bid and Governor Resignation: "All My Fault" Mentioned
Policy Briefings on 'National Basic Asset System' on 28-29 in Ulsan and Busan, Followed by June 1 in Gangwon-do

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Kim Du-gwan, a member of the Democratic Party running for president, will begin his full-scale presidential campaign starting with a book launch event in early next month.

On the 25th, Kim's side announced that on the 9th of next month, Kim will publish his autobiography "There Was No Flower Road" at the Baekbeom Memorial Hall in Seoul.

The foreword includes congratulatory messages from former Democratic Party leader Lee Hae-chan, Choi Yeol, chairman of the Environmental Foundation, and former Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun. The back of the book reprints "Kim Du-gwan as Remembered by Moon Jae-in," an evaluation of Kim by President Moon Jae-in from 2010.

This autobiography draws particular attention for including Kim's confession about the circumstances during his 2012 presidential bid. In the first chapter titled "Misjudgment," Kim calmly describes his feelings at the time, acknowledging his wrong choices such as his mid-term resignation as Governor of Gyeongnam Province and attacks on candidate Moon Jae-in.

Kim wrote in the book, "I know that the resentment I caused among Moon Jae-in's supporters does not easily disappear. Compared to the time we encouraged each other as good comrades, the brief and intense competition took away too much. It is my fault."

As the subtitle "An Ordinary Person's Extraordinary Political Journey" suggests, the book details Kim's grassroots challenges starting from scratch. Especially, the record of four consecutive failures from 2002 until his election as governor in 2010 shows that gaining public support in the Yeongnam region was not achieved overnight.

Kim's side plans to use this book launch event as an opportunity to actively promote Kim's political legitimacy and values, marked by his challenges in difficult constituencies, to Democratic Party members and the public.

Kim will hold meetings on the 28th with district heads, regional committee chairs, metropolitan council members, and local council members in the Ulsan area, and on the 29th, he will participate in the inauguration ceremony of the Busan City Party's Student Committee.

On the 1st of next month, he will visit Gangwon Province to hold a policy briefing titled "How Will the Democratic Party Regain Power?" focusing on the "National Basic Asset System," and plans to meet various political figures in Gangwon.

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