Democratic Party Leadership Race Stirs Controversy Over Lee’s Top Policy Task... Song Younggil Says, "Jung Does Not Understand"

“What is the top national policy task?”

Chung: “Resolving the legacy of the December 3 Incident... The party fully cooperated”

Lee: Top priority is enshrining the May 18 spirit in the Constitution

Democratic Party leadership candidate Song Younggil questioned candidate Chungrae Jung during the Democratic Party candidate debate held at KBC on the 10th. Song asked, "How many national policy tasks has the Lee Jaemyung administration pursued over the past year, what was the number one priority, and what efforts did you make to put them into action?"

Candidate Jung replied, "During my tenure as party leader, I considered settling the aftermath of the rebellion as the number one national policy task, and I have actually addressed all 800 policy tasks. I believe the party sufficiently cooperated."

In response, candidate Song pointed out, "It seems that candidate Jung is not very familiar with the national policy tasks." He explained, "There are 123 policy tasks in total, in commemoration of the 12·3 rebellion. The number one policy task is to enshrine the spirit of the 5·18 Democratization Movement in the preamble to the Constitution."

Democratic Party presidential candidates are taking a commemorative photo at the TV debate held at KBC in Seo-gu, Gwangju, Jeonnam on the afternoon of the 10th. From left to right, candidates Younggil Song, Chungrae Jung, Minseok Kim. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Song went on, "Since the inclusion of the 5·18 spirit in the constitutional preamble was something even the opposition agreed on, with political resolve, a one-point constitutional amendment could have been accomplished. Candidate Jung not only showed no visible effort, but also refused to persuade the opposition, even going so far as to say he would not recognize Jang Donghyuk, the leader of the People Power Party."

Regarding the inclusion of the 5·18 spirit in the preamble, candidate Jung remarked, "It is something that must be done as a matter of course. I have also argued for including the spirit of the Donghak Peasant Revolution in the preamble." He continued, "Even mentioning constitutional amendment was not only a sensitive issue at the time but something that needed to be handled with great care. For that reason, the party had no choice but to discuss constitutional revision very cautiously."

Candidate Minseok Kim commented on relations with the opposition, saying, "Even while serving as Prime Minister, I made every effort to answer opposition lawmakers' questions politely. If I become party leader, I have a plan to improve relations with the opposition far more than now."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.