The Democratic Party of Korea's supreme council on the 17th decided to allow lawmaker Song Young-gil and former deputy head of the Institute for Democracy Kim Yong, whose eligibility as candidates for the Aug. 17 party convention had been in dispute, to run in the race.
The Democratic Party leadership held a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly on the morning of the same day and, after a vote, resolved to recognize exceptions to candidate eligibility for the two, Kang Jun-hyun, chief spokesperson, told reporters.
Earlier, the party leadership confirmed disqualifying factors in the eligibility of Song and the former deputy head as candidates for the convention the previous day, and convened an emergency late-night meeting of supreme council members to discuss their eligibility to run, but failed to reach a conclusion.
The crux of the eligibility dispute was "unpaid party dues." Under party rules, the right to be elected in party office elections is granted to rights-holding members. At this time, a "rights-holding member" is someone who joined at least six months before the date of exercising rights and paid party dues at least six times within one year before the date of exercising rights.
Song, who left the party in 2023 over allegations of "cash envelope distribution" but was finally acquitted, rejoined on Feb. 27 and, as of the first day of candidate registration on the 16th, had not yet been back in the party for six months. Former deputy head Kim, in connection with allegations of receiving valuables from private developers involved in the Daejang-dong project, was sentenced to prison on appeal; while serving the sentence, due to account freezes and other factors, he reportedly failed to meet the requirement to pay party dues.
However, if significant reasons are recognized, after a supreme council resolution, the party affairs committee can set exceptions to eligibility for election, but at the previous day's supreme council meeting, supreme council members aligned with the pro-Cheong (pro-Jeong Cheong-rae) faction opposed convening the party affairs committee.
But as the supreme council on the day decided to refer the agenda on candidate eligibility to the party affairs committee, the issue of their eligibility was effectively wrapped up for now.