SOUTH KOREA — Kim Min-seok, a former Prime Minister of South Korea, declared his candidacy for the chair of the Democratic Party on July 7, initiating a leadership contest. Kim criticized former Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae.

"Jung Chung-rae engaged in self-serving politics that kept the party from converting President Lee Jae-myung's approval ratings into legislative wins," Kim said. Jung, who served as Democratic Party leader for one year, resigned his post last month to run for the party leadership election. Many pro-Lee members of the Democratic Party consider Jung responsible for the slow pace of legislation. President Lee Jae-myung voiced frustration at Cabinet meetings regarding the pace of legislation and the party's failure to pass bills despite its legislative majority.

The Democratic Party controls 161 of the 300 seats in the National Assembly, as well as the speakership of the National Assembly and the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. This committee vets every bill before a final vote. Stepping aside from the leadership race would likely cause Jung's faction to lose control over Democratic Party nominations for the 2028 general elections.

This will be the first leadership election where votes from ordinary dues-paying members will be weighed equally with those of convention delegates. The previous system gave a delegate's vote approximately 17 times the weight of a rank-and-file member's vote. Jung enacted this change to the voting system earlier this year, arguing it would strengthen party sovereignty.

A local pollster reported that Kim leads Jung by 21 percentage points among Democratic Party supporters. The poll showed Kim with 45 percent support and Jung with 24 percent support among the party's supporters.