Gwangmyeong Mayor Park Seung-won enters race for Democratic Party leadership post

Park Seung-won, a three-term mayor of Gwangmyeong in Gyeonggi Province, declared his candidacy Sunday for a supreme council member seat at the Democratic Party of Korea's Aug. 17 national convention, where the party will elect new leadership.

Park, who serves as standing chair of the Korean Democratic Leaders Council (KDLC), made the announcement in an acceptance speech after being nominated as a supreme council member candidate at a KDLC general assembly held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building that day. "I will bring together the voices of local governments, local assemblies and grassroots party members who have worked alongside residents across 226 cities, counties and districts nationwide to build a stronger Democratic Party," he said.

"The success of Lee Jae Myung's people's sovereignty government will ultimately be decided on the ground," Park said. "The party leadership that designs policy absolutely needs the leadership and experience of local governments that have actually implemented it."

He put forward three campaign pledges: decentralization-oriented constitutional reform and strengthening the constitutional standing of local governments; expanding nationally the livelihood policies proven effective at the local level; and reinforcing party member sovereignty while cultivating grassroots talent.

"Local government is not the bottom rung of national administration — it is where policy begins," Park said. "I will become a steadfast supreme council member from the lowest level and devote all my energy to the Democratic Party's renewal and the completion of a decentralized nation."

Park has served as a member of the Presidential Committee on Autonomy and Decentralization, secretary-general of the KDLC, and chair of the Local Government Council for Autonomy and Decentralization for its third and fourth terms. He has led the KDLC as its sixth-term standing chair since September 2024.

Before Park's announcement, several others had already entered the supreme council race, including former Democratic Research Institute Vice President Kim Yong, lawmakers Kim Young-ho, Park Seon-won and Lee Geon-tae, former Military Human Rights Center Secretary-General Kim Hyeong-nam, and Policy Committee Vice Chair Jeong Min-cheol.

The event also featured policy speeches by candidates running for party leader, held following Park's candidacy declaration.