Song Young-gil shares chimaek with Suncheon youth in party leadership bid

'Jangbogo Project' to dispatch young professionals abroad draws positive response

Song Young-gil, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker seeking the party's leadership, visited Suncheon on Friday evening to connect with young voters over chimaek — the popular combination of fried chicken and beer.

At a fried chicken restaurant in Jorye-dong, Song shared drinks with about 50 local residents in their 20s and 30s and introduced his proposed "Jangbogo Project," a program aimed at cultivating young professionals.

The initiative calls for dispatching 1,000 young specialists abroad each year, with a total target of 100,000 over the program's duration — a state-led global talent development plan that has drawn strong attention from younger generations.

Under the plan, young professionals would be selected using surplus tax revenue generated by the semiconductor export boom and sent to postings around the world for one to two years. The program draws on the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee's regional specialist system and the "global management" philosophy of former Daewoo Group Chairman Kim Woo-jung, translating both into public policy.

Also at the gathering, Rep. Park Seon-won of Incheon's Bupyeong-gu said the party would create a new cabinet post — tentatively titled "minister for youth affairs" — to be filled by someone in their mid-to-late 30s, with the aim of driving effective youth policy from the perspective of young people themselves.

In remarks announcing his candidacy, Song said the Democratic Party's defining challenge is to become a party that wins over young voters and swing voters rather than one that gambles its fate on razor-thin margins each election. "I will lead the way in building the Democratic Party into a structurally dominant party — through the power of unity between the party and the public, and solidarity among democratic reform forces," he said.

He added that South Korea, as the world's top semiconductor power, is at a pivotal moment that demands political support. "The Democratic Party must not only compete with the People Power Party — it must cooperate with parties around the world and take responsibility for making the Lee Jae Myung government a success," he said.

Song declared his candidacy in Seoul on Wednesday and has since spent two days touring the Honam region, visiting Gwangju and Suncheon to appeal for support from party members and the public.

Song noted personal ties to the region, saying his mother's hometown is Beolgyo in Boseong and his grandmother's is in Suncheon. He doubled down on the argument that the right candidate matters above all else, asking voters to consider who should lead the party into the general election two years from now, who can comfort and stand with ordinary people, and who can deliver a Democratic Party victory alongside the Lee Jae Myung government. "This leadership election is an extremely important choice — one that will determine who builds an irreplaceable Republic of Korea," he said.