▲ Song Young-gil (C), a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party, attends a press conference at the party's headquarters in Seoul on July 8, 2026, to declare his candidacy for the party's leadership election scheduled for Aug. 17. (Yonhap)
▲ Ko Min-jung, a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party, attends a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul on July 8, 2026, to declare her candidacy for the party's leadership election scheduled for Aug. 17. (Yonhap)

ruling party-leadership race

2 more lawmakers declare bids for ruling party leadership

SEOUL, July 8 (Yonhap) -- Reps. Song Young-gil and Ko Min-jung of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) declared their bids for the upcoming leadership election Wednesday, paving the way for a potential four-way contest.

The DP is set to hold a national convention on Aug. 17 to elect its new chairperson and the party's supreme council members amid growing factional tensions over the party's direction.

With the latest announcements, the DP leadership race is expected to become a four-way contest, with Song and Ko joining former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and former DP leader Jung Chung-rae who is widely expected to enter the race.

"The success of the Lee Jae Myung administration is the DP's responsibility," Song, a six-term lawmaker, said during a press conference at the National Assembly.

"As the ruling party, we should take responsibility for improving people's livelihoods by leading state affairs with the president," he added. "We should not let the president walk the thorny path alone, but walk down the path together with him."

His remarks were widely seen as a thinly veiled swipe at the former DP leader Jung, a hard-liner who has recently drawn criticism from some pro-Lee party members amid views that he is leading the party to appeal to his own hard-line supporters, rather than working closely with Lee on key issues.

Rep. Ko, closely aligned with former President Moon Jae-in, also announced her bid, vowing to build a party that inherits the achievements of the Moon administration.

"I will take the lead in building a DP that carries on the achievements of Moon Jae-in that were undermined under the previous Yoon Suk Yeol government, while supporting the success of the Lee Jae Myung administration," she said.

"Without internal unity, we cannot expand our support base, and without broadening our support, we cannot win the hearts of the majority of the people," she added.

In a meeting with President Lee last week, Moon stressed the need to unite the party first before broadening to the wider democratic progressive bloc.

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