Song Young-gil: "Objection to be concluded at tomorrow's Supreme Council... Lee Nak-yeon must accept"

Song Young-gil "In fact, Lee Jae-myung won by more than 11 percentage points"

Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 8th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Seohyun] Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated regarding the objection raised by former leader Lee Nak-yeon’s camp over the primary election result in which candidate Lee Jae-myung was elected as the presidential candidate by a 'narrow majority,' "The decision will be made at the Supreme Council meeting tomorrow (the 13th)."

In an interview on the 12th with TBS Radio's 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory,' Leader Song said, "Since the party's election management committee has already made a decision, there is no legal procedure to revisit this. Therefore, the Supreme Council will discuss and decide on this politically."

Regarding the claim by Lee’s camp that invalidating votes for candidates who withdrew from the primary was unfair, Song said, "After reviewing the special party regulations with legal experts, there is no alternative interpretation. We have no choice but to consider votes cast for withdrawn candidates as invalid."

When asked if there was any possibility of change, he replied, "No," adding, "In fact, candidate Lee Jae-myung won by more than an 11 percentage point margin." He pointed out that although the runoff vote did not proceed because Lee secured a 'narrow majority,' Lee received 50.29% while Lee Nak-yeon received 39.14%, showing a significant difference.

He continued, "Politically speaking, both candidates Kim Du-kwan and Chung Sye-kyun have already declared their support for candidate Lee," and emphasized, "This is about selecting our party’s presidential candidate, and except for 0.23% of the nationwide party members from Jeonnam and Gwangju, candidate Lee won over 50%. This is a situation that must be accepted politically."

He added, "Candidate Lee Nak-yeon is a living witness of the Democratic Party, having served as the longest-serving prime minister in the early days of President Moon Jae-in’s administration and as party leader. He will make a rational decision considering the entire party," and predicted, "He will make a decision for the whole party and accept the outcome."

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