In the Chungcheong region tour primary of the Aug. 17 party convention to elect the next leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea, former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok narrowly took the lead to start the race, edging former Chair Jeong with 45.06% of the dues-paying members' vote to 44.61%. The gap between the two candidates was only 0.45 percentage points, or 303 votes. Lawmaker Song Young-gil received 10.34%.
In South Chungcheong and North Chungcheong, candidate Kim led as former Prime Minister Kim outpaced the field. In South Chungcheong, Kim won 12,483 of 27,345 total votes (45.65%), while candidate Jeong received 11,835 (43.28%). Candidate Song had 3,026 (11.07%). In North Chungcheong, out of 18,920 votes, former Prime Minister Kim won 8,967 (47.39%), former Chair Jeong won 7,919 (41.86%), and candidate Song won 2,034 (10.75%).
In Daejeon and Sejong, candidate Jeong was ahead but did not overturn the overall result. In Daejeon, of a total 16,974 dues-paying member votes, candidate Jeong took first with 8,187 (48.23%), and candidate Kim received 7,249 (42.71%). Candidate Song had 1,538 (9.06%). In Sejong, out of 4,749 votes, candidate Jeong had 2,388 (50.28%), candidate Kim 1,932 (40.68%), and candidate Song 429 (9.03%).
For the Supreme Council results, lawmaker Choi Min-hee took first with 30,384 votes (22.35%), and lawmaker Park Sun-won received 22,721 votes for a 16.71% share. The next rankings were lawmaker Han Min-su, lawmaker Seo Mi-hwa, and former Democratic Research Institute head Kim Yong, rounding out the top five.
Former Prime Minister Kim had been expected to trail candidate Jeong in the Chungcheong primary that day, but by edging former Chair Jeong by 0.45 percentage points, Kim secured an early advantage in the race. Right after the results were announced, former Prime Minister Kim told reporters, "Chungcheong, the first primary site, was not an easy region from the start," adding, "(Party members) expected many difficulties, but they helped us beyond expectations."
Former Chair Jeong assessed the primary results positively and emphasized gaining future support from party members. Jeong said, "Isn't that a good showing?" and added, "Considering that they have been pounding and attacking me two-to-one, three-to-one, four-to-one, five-to-one, isn't this a very fine outcome?" Jeong then said, "I believe party members will protect me and stand by me."