Woo Won-sik: "Not Running in National Convention... Can No Longer Watch Party Infighting"

Sharp Criticism of Factional Leadership Race
"If We Fuel Division During the Convention, What Will Be Left of the Party?"

Former National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik on the 21st criticized the increasingly heated competition for party leadership within the Democratic Party of Korea and announced that he will not run in the upcoming National Convention in August.

On this day, Woo posted a statement titled "Statement by Assemblyman Woo Won-sik Regarding the Democratic Party National Convention" on Facebook, saying, "Let us first clarify who the Democratic Party is for and what this National Convention is for. Only then does the competition for party leadership have meaning," adding, "I have no intention of running in this National Convention."

He continued, "I ask, again and again, as someone who has been a lifelong member of the Democratic Party, beginning with the Peace Democratic Party. Is the current Democratic Party the same party for the middle class and ordinary citizens that former President Kim Dae-jung founded? Is the current Democratic Party the nationwide party envisioned by former President Roh Moo-hyun?"

He further asked, "No matter how much I think about it, this is not right. If we hold this National Convention while wounding each other, mocking our opponents, picking at each other's flaws, and fueling division, what will be left of our party afterwards?"

He also pointed out, "Derogatory terms that are difficult to even utter are being used to attack internal rivals," adding, "It is shameful and embarrassing." This remark is interpreted as criticism of recent mutual slander and mockery between supporters of Democratic Party leader Jeong Cheong-rae and supporters of Prime Minister Kim Min-seok.

Woo concluded, "As someone who has spent a lifetime as a member of the Democratic Party and stood with the underprivileged in the field, I can no longer bear to watch the party's division and conflict," and urged, "Let us move forward as a greater and united Democratic Party, not one marked by wounds and division."

Woo Wonshik, Speaker of the National Assembly, is holding a farewell press conference at the National Assembly on the 28th, ahead of the end of the first half of the National Assembly. 2026.5.28 Photo by Kim Hyunmin

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