Jung Chung-rae, the Democratic Party of Korea leader, resigned from the party leadership ahead of forming the party convention preparation committee. Jung said, "I will do my best for the success of the Lee Jae-myung administration," hinting that he would run for "reelection as party leader" at the convention in August.
On the morning of the 24th at the National Assembly, Jung said at a supreme council meeting, "Today's supreme council meeting that I am presiding over seems to be the last," adding, "I will step down from the party leadership."
He went on, "I spent several sleepless nights looking back on myself. I looked over my political life," and said, "I was a supreme council member during Lee Jae-myung's tenure as party leader, and I fought from the closest seat against the Yoon Suk-yeol prosecution dictatorship's oppression of the opposition, elimination of political rivals, and the drive to take down Lee Jae-myung."
Jung also said, "During the illegal Dec. 3 emergency martial law incident, I worked hard to remove Yoon Suk-yeol from office as the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chair and as an impeachment committee member," adding, "History does not move in a straight line, but it never retreats. Drawing nourishment from the history of Kim Dae-jung, the history of Roh Moo-hyun, and the history of Moon Jae-in, we must make the history of Lee Jae-myung blossom."
He added, "President Lee Jae-myung and I are a community of shared political destiny and a 'one-body community.' If the president succeeds, I also succeed," and said, "So do not worry. I will uphold to the end the success of the Lee Jae-myung administration and my loyalty to President Lee."
The Democratic Party plans to approve the formation plans for the party convention preparation committee and the election commission on the 26th. Kang Jun-hyun, the Democratic Party's chief spokesperson, met with reporters that day and said, "The party leader resigned today (the 24th), and on the 26th we plan to submit to the party affairs committee the proposals to establish and constitute the convention preparation committee and the election commission."