Former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, two others to vie for DP leadership

Former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and two former leaders of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) will vie for the party leadership at the upcoming national convention next month, a party official said Thursday.

Kim, along with former DP leaders Jung Chung-rae and Song Young-gil, ranked in the top three in the primary and advanced to the final round of the leadership race, according to So Byung-hoon, chief of the party convention election committee.

The DP is set to hold the national convention on Aug. 17 to elect its new leader, who will play a key role in overseeing the nomination of candidates for the April 2028 parliamentary elections.

Two other candidates -- former presidential spokesperson Ko Min-jung and former Gangjin councilmember Kim Bo-mi -- failed to make the cut in the three-day primary that ran from Tuesday.

For the party's supreme council, eight out of 14 candidates won the primary to advance to the final round.

The three candidates for party leadership were chosen based on 35 percent of the votes cast by the party's central committee members, 35 percent from dues-paying members and the remaining 30 percent from public opinion poll results.

Jung, a four-term lawmaker who announced his bid last week, was widely expected to be included among the top three candidates. Jung has faced criticism from some party members closely aligned with President Lee Jae Myung for focusing on appealing to his own hard-line supporters instead of fully backing the president.

Competing against him is Kim, a key political ally of President Lee who served as the first prime minister under the current administration.

Announcing his bid earlier this month, Kim pledged to work for the success of the Lee administration and make sweeping changes in the party, saying the party had failed to capitalize on Lee's strong public approval during the June 3 local elections.

Despite winning 12 of the 16 mayoral and gubernatorial seats in the elections, the DP lost key battlegrounds, including the Seoul mayoral race.