Five vie for Democratic Party leadership as candidate registration closes

The field for the Democratic Party of Korea's Aug. 17 national convention was set Friday, with five candidates registered for party leader and 14 for supreme council member.

The party's central National Election Commission released the figures in a press release Friday, citing registrations received as of 6 p.m. The two-day registration window ran Thursday through Friday.

The five party leader candidates, listed in ballot-draw order, are former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, Rep. Ko Min-jung, former party leader Jung Chung-rae, former Gangjin-gun council member Kim Bo-mi and Rep. Song Young-gil.

Fourteen candidates registered for supreme council member, also in ballot-draw order: Reps. Park Seon-won, Lee Geon-tae and Lee Sung-yoon, former Democratic Research Institute Vice President Kim Yong, Rep. Park Seong-jun, Gwangmyeong Mayor Park Seung-won, Policy Committee Vice Chairman Jeong Min-cheol, Reps. Han Min-su, Seo Mi-hwa, Choi Min-hee, Kim Yeong-ho and Im Mi-ae, former Rep. Shin Gye-ryun, and former Military Human Rights Center Secretary-General Kim Hyeong-nam.

The party will hold a preliminary election Tuesday to trim the party leader field to three candidates and the supreme council field to eight. In the party leader preliminary election, each voter casts one ballot, with results weighted 35 percent from central committee members, 35 percent from dues-paying party members and 30 percent from a public opinion poll. The supreme council preliminary election uses a two-candidate ballot, weighted equally at 50 percent each between central committee members and dues-paying party members. Vote tallies and rankings will not be disclosed.