Candidates Kim Min-seok, Jung Chung-rae, and Song Young-gil, who are competing for the Democratic Party leadership, advanced to the main election for party leader. In the preliminary election for supreme council members, candidates Park Sun-won, Lee Sung-yoon, Kim Yong, Han Min-soo, Seo Mi-hwa, Choi Min-hee, Kim Young-ho, and Lim Mi-ae passed. The results of the main election will be announced at the party convention on the 17th of next month.

Jung Chung-rae (from left), Kim Min-seok, and Song Young-gil, who are elected as the Democratic Party of Korea main primary candidates, raise their hands in greeting during the preliminary primary results event to select the party leader and supreme council members at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 23rd./Courtesy of News1

So Byung-hoon, chair of the Democratic Party central election management committee, said at the announcement of the preliminary election results for the party convention held at the National Assembly members' office building on the afternoon of the 23rd that "candidates Kim Min-seok, Jung Chung-rae, and Song Young-gil—three in total—have been elected as main election candidates for party leader."

The preliminary election for party leader was held reflecting 35% from central committee members, 35% from dues-paying party members, and 30% from a public opinion poll. Turnout was 88.38% for the central committee-level electoral college and 37.42% for the dues-paying members' electoral college, for a total of 37.44%.

With the preliminary election concluded, the party leader race proceeds as a three-way contest among the leading candidates—Kim Min-seok, Jung Chung-rae, and Song Young-gil. The three leadership contenders are expected to clash over issues including abolishing prosecutors' supplementary investigative authority and alleged intervention by Shincheonji in the party convention.

After the preliminary results were announced, candidate Kim Min-seok said, "I will approach the main election seriously with a heavy sense of responsibility," adding, "I convey to the party leadership a request to properly wrap up prosecution reform starting next week. The Democratic Party will win."

Candidate Jung Chung-rae said, "We will respond firmly to moves that seek to shake the one-person, one-vote principle of party member sovereignty," adding, "We will respond firmly to the spread of fabricated information and fake news. Acts that, beyond violence, put the party at risk will never be forgiven."

Candidate Song Young-gil said, "We will, as united comrades without discord within the party, put our heads together and have the party and the presidential office act as one to build an irreplaceable Republic of Korea," adding, "We will show a future-oriented Democratic Party that identifies what problems the public and the Republic of Korea face and presents solutions and alternatives."

In the supreme council election, candidates Lee Sung-yoon, Han Min-soo, and Choi Min-hee, who are aligned with the pro-Jung Chung-rae faction, all passed the preliminary. Along with them, candidates Park Sun-won, Kim Yong, Seo Mi-hwa, Kim Young-ho, and Lim Mi-ae, who advanced to the main election, are classified as broadly pro-Lee Jae-myung.

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