Ruling party heavyweights gearing up for party leadership race

Rep. Lee Nak-yon, head of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's special committee dealing with the country's fight against the COVID-19 crisis, attends a debate on job creation at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun

By Jung Da-min

Some of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) heavyweights are already gearing up for a race to become the party's new leader, three months ahead of the party's national convention set to be held in late August. The convention will elect a new leader and members of the party's decision-making Supreme Council.

Winning the race is likely to be a stepping stone for the winner toward the 2022 presidential race if the person shows good leadership of the ruling party that has a super majority in the National Assembly. No strong presidential contender has surfaced among opposition so far.

Among the heavyweights aiming for the leadership is Lee Nak-yon, former prime minister to President Moon Jae-in and currently the chief of the DPK's special committee dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. He is considered by political watchers to be the strongest candidate and is expected to declare his bid to run in the leadership competition soon as he indicated during talks with journalists last week.

Following him, another heavyweight who has been seeking the leadership, Rep. Song Young-gil, said in late May that he would not run and instead support Lee.

Kim Boo-kyum, a former four-term lawmaker with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, talks during an interview with the Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times, at the company's building in Seoul, April 22. Korea Times file

Another DPK heavyweight Kim Boo-kyum, a former four-term lawmaker, is, however, considering joining the race.

Although he lost to Rep. Joo Ho-young of the main opposition United Future Party (UFP) in the April 15 general election in Daegu's Suseong-A constituency, the political presence of Kim, a former minister of the interior and safety for President Moon is still significant as a potential presidential candidate.

Kim has been discreet about declaring his leadership bid, although he did announce in early April that he would run in the presidential election. If Kim loses against Lee in the party leadership race, it could threaten his aspirations for the presidency.

So far, Lee has an overwhelming lead in polls on prospective presidential candidates over the past 11 months.

Rep. Woo Won-sik and Rep. Hong Young-pyo are also planning to run in the party leadership competition.

DPK members are showing mixed responses to Lee's expected run for the leadership. Along with expectations that he must show firm leadership in leading the ruling party ― which has 177 seats in the 300-strong National Assembly ― and the high public support for him, there are also concerns over the party's regulations that segregate the party leadership and the presidential candidacy.

According to the regulations, a party member who runs in the presidential election must vacate its leadership at least one year before the election. This means Lee, if elected as the party's new leader at the party convention on Aug. 29, will be required to step down from the leader position before March 9 next year, a year before the 2022 presidential election. This leaves only a seven-month term as party leader.

Some DPK members say it would not give a good impression to the party members and the public if Lee steps down from the party leadership after only seven months.

Some politicians have talked about changing the regulations to allow Lee a longer term, but this could face a backlash as it would be a case of changing regulations to specifically benefit one person's political aspirations.