Democratic Party names Kim Yong senior deputy head of its research institute

Kim Yong, a former deputy head of the Democratic Research Institute, has been named the institute's senior deputy head.

The Democratic Party of Korea said the appointment was reported at a closed-door supreme council meeting held Wednesday.

Cho Oh-seop, former chief of staff to the National Assembly speaker; Kang Hee-yong, former political affairs secretary at the prime minister's secretariat; and Song Chang-wook, former vice chairman of the National Sovereignty Committee under the National Policy Planning Commission, were named standing deputy heads.

Kim previously served as a Seongnam city council member in the sixth and seventh terms and is considered a founding member of the so-called "Seongnam-Gyeonggi line" — having served as spokesperson for Gyeonggi Province when President Lee Jae Myung was governor, and later as deputy head of the Democratic Research Institute when Lee led the party.

Kim ran for a supreme council seat at the party's Aug. 17 national convention but was not elected. He had been taken into custody after being charged with accepting money from figures involved in the Daejang-dong development scheme, and was released on bail last year.

In a Facebook post Wednesday, Kim said he felt "a heavy sense of responsibility" and pledged to "take the lead in party reform, particularly by reflecting the voices of rank-and-file members on the ground."