Kim Min-seok Signals Candidacy for Party Convention... "Preparing the Flag of Duty"

A Leading Figure of the '86 Group' in the Democratic Party
"A Sense of Mission for the Party and the Nation" Emphasized

Kim Min-seok, Democratic Party of Korea / Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Bo-ryeong] On the 26th, Kim Min-seok, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, hinted at the possibility of running for party leader.

On the same day, Kim posted on his Facebook, "We must prepare for victory with a 'board of integration and innovation,' not a 'board of conflict and division,'" and added, "With a sense of mission for the party and the nation, I will prepare my flag of duty for the party convention." This statement is interpreted as his intention to run in the party convention scheduled for August.

Kim emphasized, "We must move towards innovation that prevents division. In the presidential and local elections, the Democratic Party changed its stance according to small interests at the time, losing trust. If this continues, we will lose again. When inertia becomes the trend, it only leads to repeated mistakes of putting private interests before public ones and division becoming entrenched," and added, "Innovation that perceives and internalizes the changes of the times to open the path of replacement and change is necessary."

He continued, "The Democratic Party has the mission to strongly correct the 'derailed governance' of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, which has lost direction and is faltering from the start, and to protect the anxious people," and said, "Prioritizing a livelihood New Deal that supports the public’s fuel tax, transportation costs, food expenses, loan interest, income tax, youth assets, and job training, while simultaneously pursuing power reforms such as the Presidential Office and Residence Act, direct election of prosecutors-general, and autonomous police system, we must check and lead the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, which tries to cover up its lack of capability by digging up the past."

Kim is considered one of the prominent members of the '86 Group' (those born in the 1960s who entered university in the 1980s) within the party. Although there has been a call for generational change with the '97 Group' (those born in the 1970s who entered university in the 1990s) taking the forefront after the local election defeat, challenges from the 86 Group for the party convention continue. Before Kim, Jeong Cheong-rae, another member of the 86 Group, announced his intention to run for the party convention.