DP to meet in Sept. to elect new leaders

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) will hold a national convention on Sept. 18 to elect its new leaders, a member of the party’s interim leadership said yesterday.

The convention will be held at the KINTEX convention center in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, according to Rep. Lee Mi-kyung, who belongs to the 11-member “emergency management committee.”

The party’s former chairman, Chung Sye-kyun, and other ranking officials stepped down en masse on Monday, holding themselves partly responsible for the party’s defeat in July 28 parliamentary by-elections. The party secured only three of the eight seats that were up for grabs in the elections while its conservative rival, the Grand National Party, won five.

After the resignation, the DP organized the committee that will control the party until a new leader is elected and decide on rules for the party election.

The committee, led by DP floor leader Park Jie-won, is comprised of members who are not members of rival factions in the party.

Yonhap