Kim Min-seok, the former prime minister who declared a bid for the Democratic Party of Korea leadership, appeared on Kim Ou-joon's "Humility Is Difficult News Factory," which has strong influence among pan-ruling-bloc supporters. Early in the race, he appeared on Kim Ou-joon's program, known to be close to former leader Jung Chung-rae, and is confronting various suspicions and controversies head-on.
On the morning of the 8th, the former prime minister appeared on Kim Ou-joon's program and actively rebutted various allegations related to him. Regarding the suspicion that he was absent from the vote to lift martial law, he said, "I was 1 second late. The moment I sat down, Lee Jae-myung, then the leader, sitting next to me, pressed it." On the program, Kim Ou-joon released CCTV footage that recorded the National Assembly situation during martial law and also verified the former prime minister's explanation.
The former prime minister also repeatedly took aim at former leader Jung Chung-rae regarding the "harms of self-serving politics" he mentioned in his candidacy announcement. The former prime minister said, "As representative examples, I cited the controversies during the merger process, prosecution reform, nominations, and election command," adding, "A lack of debate, deliberation, and procedure burdened the party and put a considerable strain on party-government cooperation."
The former prime minister also mentioned pushing the merger with the Rebuilding Korea Party as a bombshell declaration without a public discussion process and the delay in passing prosecution reform legislation. The former prime minister said, "We also needed forums to finish (prosecution reform), but the party said for various reasons that it was burdensome, so it was set aside," adding, "Han Jeong-ae, the policy committee chair, already heard it and said it was conveyed to the leadership, so the fact-check is done."
Aiming at the tenure of the former leader, the former prime minister said, "When a Cabinet meeting ended, at least within the next one to two hours, things should have been briskly organized with the sense that 'the ruling party should carry this forward through law and policy,' but there was no such feeling," adding, "The two locomotives (the party and the government) need to race forward in a speed competition."
Former leader Jung Chung-rae also went public with his moves by holding a forum at the National Assembly on the morning of the same day. Jung hosted a policy forum on the Southwest semiconductor cluster that morning. The event was co-hosted by lawmakers Choi Min-hee, Lee Seong-yoon, and Han Min-soo, who are classified as pro-Jung. At the forum site, lawmakers Moon Jeong-bok, Park Gyu-hwan, Son Myeong-su, Kim Young-hwan, and Gwon Hyang-yeop appeared, and Lee Jae-young, head of the Democracy Research Institute, also attended.
In his opening remarks, the former leader said, "When I was party leader, I created a special committee for Honam's development, reflected the budget for long-cherished projects that had been Honam's bitter sorrow and tears, and worked for Honam's development," adding, "This Southwest cluster goes beyond that dimension, and Honam, which has carried Korea's democracy this far, is now tasked with advancing Korea into one of the top three AI powers and a global superpower."
After the forum, the former leader met with reporters and again stressed the complete abolition of the supplementary investigation authority. When asked about it, he said, "I hope there will be no more controversy in the party," adding, "Saying we should have the right to request supplementary investigations is, in the end, the same as saying we should abolish the supplementary investigation authority."
The former leader held back on the timing of his own candidacy.