Kim Min-seok Elected Democratic Party Leader, Says He Will "Make Lee Jae-myung Succeed"

[Financial News, Seoul and Daejeon = Kim Yun-ho, Kim Hyeong-gu]Kim Min-seok, a pro-Lee Jae-myung lawmaker, was elected as the new leader of the Democratic Party of Korea. He defeated Jung Chung-rae after the preferential voting system was applied because no candidate won a majority. Among the five elected Supreme Council members, three are pro-Jung lawmakers: Choi Min-hee, Lee Sung-yoon and Han Min-soo.
At the party convention held on the 17th at Daejeon Convention Center in Yuseong District, Daejeon, Kim was elected with 54.08% of the final vote. Because he fell short of a majority in the first-choice vote, the result was determined by adding second-choice votes for Kim from ballots that had placed Song Young-gil in first place.
Among the five elected Supreme Council members, the pro-Jung camp held three seats, outnumbering the pro-Lee camp represented by Park Sun-won and Seo Mihwa. Choi Min-hee, a pro-Jung lawmaker, also took the top spot and became senior Supreme Council member. With Kim failing to secure a first-round majority and the pro-Jung camp winning a majority of Supreme Council seats, the outcome appears to have been evenly balanced in terms of factional power.
Apparently mindful of that balance, Kim said in his acceptance speech, "I will run together with Jung Chung-rae and Song Young-gil. I will open the field wide and serve everyone together. Let us wash away the fatigue of this long internal race," adding, "We are facing difficult conditions both inside and outside the party. Let us move forward together without anyone being left behind, excluded or discriminated against."
He also said he would draw up the Democratic Party's "ABC plan" — Affordable, Broad and competent — similar to the Lee Jae Myung administration's ABCD growth strategy that he had led when he served as prime minister. "We will become a big and broad politics of addition, and a capable majority party focused on livelihoods," he said.
At the same time, Kim reiterated his pledge to strengthen cooperation between the ruling party and the government. He said, "The relationship between the party and the presidential office, and between the party and the government, will be a creative horizontal partnership of full cooperation that supports the president and the government at the center of state affairs." He added, "Because the success of Lee Jae-myung and the Popular Sovereignty Government is the success of the people, the party will debate, speak frankly, serve as a shield and act as a channel for public sentiment to ensure that success."
He also said he would carry out all of his pledges to support the administration's policy agenda. On real estate, he plans to set up a task force directly under the party leader called the "Real Estate Supply Drive Institutional Reform TF" to devise more aggressive supply expansion measures than those proposed by the government. On tax reform, he said the party and government would hold consultations and party-level forums to address the heavier tax burden on non-resident one-home owners.
In response to pressure from the Trump administration, Kim is expected to soon schedule visits to the United States, China and Japan to provide direct diplomatic support. The Trump administration has recently hinted at raising tariffs to push for more investment in the United States, while also trying to scale back the ROK-US Combined Military Exercise on the grounds of its friendly ties with Kim Jong Un.
The three major mega projects, including Honam Semiconductor worth 800 trillion won, will move ahead quickly with support legislation such as the Special Act on Mega Regulatory Free Zones and the Future Response Fund, as well as additional investment in Jeonbuk. The party is also pushing for large-scale budget allocations for the projects as it reviews next year's 800 trillion won super budget proposal. Through this, it is expected to regain nationwide support for state affairs.
In this process, Democratic Party lawmakers are also expected to move in lockstep. With the pro-Lee camp now holding the party leadership and steering candidate nominations for the general election, how much one has contributed to the Lee Jae Myung administration is likely to become the de facto standard for nominations. As a result, the party is expected to push ahead boldly with legislation.

[email protected] Kim Yun-ho Reporter