"Lifelong friends with Kim Min-seok, lifelong senior-junior bond with Song Young-gil"

"Not looking to form alliances — I'll stand alone"

Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Park Sun-won announces his candidacy for a supreme council seat at the National Assembly press center on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Park Sun-won announces his candidacy for a supreme council seat at the National Assembly press center on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

By Joo So-hyun, The Herald Business

Rep. Park Sun-won of the Democratic Party of Korea (Incheon's Bupyeong-gu B district, first term) announced Wednesday his candidacy for a supreme council seat at the party's Aug. 17 national convention, pledging to build "a Democratic Party that can win the next general election and presidential election."

Speaking at a press conference at the National Assembly press center, Park said he was stepping forward "to become a supreme council member for all Democratic Party members." He added: "From now on, I will be a 'dolsoe' — not someone who strikes a pose up front, but someone who carries the load from behind." A "dolsoe" is a traditional Korean term for a loyal, hardworking servant.

Park also said that as someone who had long defended national security and democracy through the National Intelligence Service, the National Assembly's National Defense Committee and the Intelligence Committee, he had "warned of the signs of crisis before anyone else." He added that while the party had succeeded in reclaiming power, its work was not finished. "Now we must build a successful government and change people's lives," he said.

Park went on to say he would make the Democratic Party stronger as a supreme council member, vowing to lead efforts to make the party "strong on security, strong on the economy and strong on people's livelihoods." A former first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, Park has served as secretary of the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee and as a member of both the special parliamentary investigation committee on Yoon Suk Yeol's emergency martial law and the impeachment motion team against former President Yoon.

Asked about his relationship with the leading contenders for party leadership — including Jung Chung-rae, who stepped down as party leader Wednesday and officially launched a re-election bid, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and former party leader Song Young-gil — Park said Jung was "someone I'm grateful to" for having given him two four-hour orientation sessions as a senior supreme council member when Park joined the party as a recruited talent. "Kim Min-seok is a lifelong friend, and former leader Song is someone I've had a lifelong senior-junior bond with," he said.

Park distanced himself from any alliance, saying he had "no intention of aligning with anyone." "Since I'm not a party leader candidate, I'll go it alone," he said. "My supporters seem to want that — they don't seem to like the idea of forming alliances and taking sides."

On his role as a supreme council member, Park said the security-related standing committees had all been held by the opposition People Power Party in the first half of the Assembly term and needed to be brought under the ruling party. "Don't we need at least one supreme council member who can take charge of peace, security, national defense and diplomacy?" he said. He also called for party unity, saying there was "no need to compete or clash within the party" and pledging to "do everything possible to avoid words or actions that cause conflict or hurt one another."

On the special prosecutor act targeting alleged fabricated indictments, Park said forming the Assembly's committee structure should come first. "The special prosecutor bill appears to have been submitted and received — after that, I would expect discussions to proceed between the ruling and opposition parties, centered on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee," he said. He declined to state a position on whether the bill should grant the special prosecutor the power to withdraw charges.

On revisions to the Code of Criminal Procedure, Park said he saw no difference in position among President Lee Jae Myung, Prime Minister Kim and party leader Jung on abolishing supplementary investigative powers. "Once the committee structure is in place, the specialized Legislation and Judiciary Committee should take the lead — it's not something for us to squabble over among ourselves," he added.


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