Kim Min-seok, former prime minister and declared candidate for the Democratic Party of Korea leadership, delivers remarks at a forum on three mega-projects and region-led growth hosted at the National Assembly on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
Kim Min-seok, former prime minister and declared candidate for the Democratic Party of Korea leadership, delivers remarks at a forum on three mega-projects and region-led growth hosted at the National Assembly on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

Former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said Tuesday that if there is even 0.1 percent truth to claims that he opposed a so-called "August unified convention" directive within the ruling camp, he will withdraw his candidacy for the Democratic Party of Korea leadership race.

Speaking to reporters at the National Assembly that afternoon, Kim said the allegation raised by lawmaker Choi Min-hee — that the president had supported or issued a directive for a unified August convention with the Rebuilding Korea Party, and that Kim had blocked it — was "not 0.1 percent true." He added that he had already explained this to Choi personally.

"Unless she is raising this issue again simply because she is, as she herself says, aligned with Jung Chung-rae, she would do well to explain the basis on which she claims it is true," Kim said.

He added that the president and the prime minister, by the nature of their offices, had never publicly or officially expressed positions on political matters such as party mergers, and that he was no different. "I never expressed such a position, nor did I convey or seek to push one through to the party," he said.

Kim went on to say that, to his knowledge, there had been no attempt whatsoever to push through an August unified convention as the president's will. "That is fake news," he added.

Kim also said that senior party council member Lee Seong-yun had made "clearly false statements" — claiming Kim had pretended to be asleep on the night of Dec. 3, 2024, when emergency martial law was declared, and that he had not rushed to the National Assembly after receiving a call about the martial law declaration. He said a civic group had filed a complaint over the remarks. "It would be appropriate for him to pursue legal recourse while also separately offering me an apology," Kim said.


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