Song Yeong-gil declares bid for Democratic Party leadership, warns next general election loss would doom Lee government

Song Yeong-gil, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, officially declared his candidacy Wednesday for the party leadership election at the Aug. 17 national convention, saying the June 3 local elections were "a defeat dressed in the clothes of victory" and that the party must now prove it deserves to govern.

Song made the announcement at a press conference at the party's Yeouido headquarters Wednesday morning, saying voters had "sent the Democratic Party a yellow card" in the local elections.

"If we brush that aside, the next general election will be a red card," he said. "If we lose the general election, there is no reclaiming power — and without reclaiming power, the success of the Lee Jae Myung government cannot be guaranteed."

Song also said he had "protected President Lee Jae Myung" and "endured the harsh trials of the prosecution's authoritarian rule," adding that he would ensure the Lee government succeeds "not through words but through action."

On the Lee government's flagship "three mega-projects," Song said winning the bids was only the beginning. "The real race for speed starts now," he said. "The ruling party must be the engine of that race — I will clear every obstacle in the National Assembly through legislation, budgets and regulatory reform."

With Song's entry following former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok's official declaration on Monday, the Democratic Party's major contenders are rapidly lining up ahead of the convention.

Kim has been waging a sustained public campaign against Jung Chung-rae, widely seen as a rival for the leadership. On Wednesday, Kim said on the YouTube program "Kim Eojun's Humility Is Hard" that during Jung's tenure as party leader, the party's approval rating had trailed the president's by 20 to 25 percentage points and that the local election results had fallen short of initial expectations.

Jung, who has yet to formally declare his candidacy, has been responding mainly through social media. On Tuesday, he wrote on Facebook that it was "a prime example of self-serving politics" for a sitting prime minister — a senior government official who should be focused solely on state affairs — to stir up controversy by publicly musing about his "dream of becoming party leader" at an inappropriate time and place. He also said the so-called "Myeong-Cheong showdown" between Lee and Jung does not exist, and urged the media to stop dragging the president into the convention race.

Meanwhile, two-term lawmaker Ko Min-jung, who is aligned with the pro-Moon Jae-in faction, also declared her candidacy Wednesday. Ko said she would "take the lead in building a Democratic Party that carries forward the achievements of the Moon Jae-in era that were undermined under the Yoon Suk Yeol government, and supports the success of the Lee Jae Myung government," adding that she would work to build "a Democratic Party that is united from within."