Leadership race heats up for major parties

The leadership race for the two major parties here heated up in recent days, with the main opposition kicking off its primaries and the ruling party wrapping up its weekslong contest with an election scheduled for Tuesday.

Ex-main opposition leader and Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Lee Jae-myung on Sunday won a primary in Gangwon Province, the third of the 15-leg race across the country, as he tries to secure a second term.

Lee won a whopping 90.02 percent of the total ballots cast by registered party members in the province. The other two candidates, ex-Interior Minister Kim Doo-gwan and 38-year-old politician Kim Ji-soo each earned 8.9 percent and 1.08 percent, respectively.

Sunday's result marks a victory for Lee for the second consecutive day, as he won a primary on Jeju Island and the western port city of Incheon for party leader the previous day. Lee won 90.7 percent of combined ballots in the areas, with Kim Doo-gwan and Kim Ji-soo each earning 8 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

The Democratic Party is set to elect a new leader during a national convention on Aug. 18.

Lee took office as the party leader in 2022 after winning 77.77 percent of the vote at the national convention in August of that year. Though his two-year term as main opposition leader was to officially end next month, he resigned early to run for reelection, as the current party charter states that the leader must resign before the candidate registration period kicks off to do so.

The Democratic Party will factor in the outcomes of the primaries, a survey on the general public and online polls by party representatives, to select its next leader.

Lee is widely expected to be reelected for a second term, despite being embroiled in several scandals and court battles.

Last month, prosecutors charged Lee with third-party bribery and violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act tied to his alleged involvement in the 2019-20 unauthorized North Korea remittance case. The charges were on top of three ongoing court cases against him at the Seoul Central District Court, respectively regarding development project-related bribery, election law violations and perjury.

On the other side of the political spectrum, the ruling People Power Party has reached the final stages of its weekslong leadership contest, with the election for its next leader scheduled for Tuesday.

Tuesday's election will put an end to the intense mudslinging among some of the four conservative candidates, which started escalating early this month.

The ruling party leadership recently warned two of its four candidates, ex-Justice Minister and former People Power Party interim leader Han Dong-hoon and former Land Minister Won Hee-ryong, to halt “personal attacks” against each other.

A rift had opened between the pro-Yoon Suk Yeol faction and supporters of Han within the conservative bloc after rumors that the former party interim leader ignored five text messages from first lady Kim Keon Hee ahead of the April 10 general election.