Kim Min-seok vows party diplomacy visits to US, China, Japan this year

Democratic Party of Korea leader Kim Min-seok said Friday he would move immediately to pursue party-level diplomatic visits to the United States, China and Japan before the end of the year, fulfilling a pledge he made during the party leadership race.

Kim made the announcement at a supreme council meeting held at Gangneung City Hall in Gangwon Province, saying he would "form a party diplomacy task force right away."

"With the US, China and North Korea all showing complex and shifting positions, I believe the time has come to further strengthen the pacemaker role that President Lee Jae-myung has declared," Kim said. "The party will actively support that effort."

Kim noted that during his time as prime minister he had visited the US and China, meeting US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Chinese Premier Li Qiang. "The difference with party diplomacy, as opposed to government diplomacy, is that — particularly in the case of the United States — we can also engage with the opposition party," he said.

Turning to local politics, Kim addressed the fact that a Democratic Party-affiliated mayor was elected in Gangneung for the first time in the June 3 local elections. "The current mayor is a Democratic Party member, but the National Assembly seat is vacant and the local council is not structured in a way that can stably support the mayor," he said.

Alluding to former People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Seong-dong's loss of his Assembly seat, Kim said he would soon propose that the Democratic Party fulfill the role of the constituency's National Assembly member and invite local council members from across party lines to work together on Gangneung's pressing issues.

Kim also said supporting the Gangneung Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress — scheduled to run from Oct. 19 to Oct. 23 — was the Democratic Party's responsibility. He said the party had resolved Friday to establish a TF to support the successful hosting of the congress. The TF will be co-chaired by Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Woo-young, who is from Gangneung, and Lee Don-tae, president of the design strategy center at Lotte Holdings.