The Democratic Party of Korea's upcoming supreme council by-election, scheduled for February 11, is shaping up as a contest between pro-Lee (pro-Lee Jae-myung) and pro-Jung (pro-Jung Chung-rae) factions. While Jung Chung-rae's camp dismisses this as "intentional division," insisting that "there is no pro-Jung faction in the Democratic Party, only pro-Lee," the prevailing view is that this is a battle for party leadership control.
The contest has also taken on the character of a confidence vote on Jung's leadership following the recent rejection of his signature policy proposal for a "one person, one vote" system, which would have given delegates and registered party members equal voting weight, according to political observers.
According to the Democratic Party on January 14, candidate registration for the supreme council by-election will be held from January 15 to 17. The three vacancies were created when Representatives Jeon Hyun-hee, Han Jun-ho, and Kim Byung-joo resigned to run in the June local elections. The three newly elected supreme council members will serve alongside Chairman Jung in the party leadership until August of next year.
The by-election will be decided by votes from central committee members (50%) and registered party members (50%). The battle lines are expected to become clearer once the campaign officially begins after the registration period. While Jung enjoys strong support among registered party members, the pro-Lee faction is considered to have an advantage in the "organizational vote" of central committee members, making the outcome difficult to predict.
Park Soo-hyun, the party's chief spokesperson, wrote on Facebook the day before that "the 'pro-Lee' and 'pro-Jung' framing is insulting," adding that "Jung Chung-rae stands at the very front of the pro-Lee faction like Zhang Fei at Changban Bridge. If there is any divisive action within the party, that itself would be a violation of party rules and rather an attack on President-to-be Lee Jae-myung."
However, earlier declarations of candidacy by Representative Lee Geon-tae and Yoo Dong-cheol, chairman of the Busan Suyeong-gu district committee, criticized Jung's leadership and communication issues between the party, government, and presidential office, effectively confirming the pro-Lee versus pro-Jung dynamic. Moon Jung-bok, the party's deputy secretary-general for organization and a member of Jung's camp who plans to run for supreme council, went so far as to call Yoo a "shameless person" who "needs to be taught some manners."
"Even if Jung's side loses, if the narrative is framed as resistance from party establishment interests, his support among party members could grow stronger, potentially helping his reelection bid," one Democratic Party official said.
Lee Sung-yoon, chairman of the party's legal affairs committee who helped Jung in his party leadership campaign, declared his candidacy for supreme council that day, saying "I am confident that I am the best person to reform the political prosecution and Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae's Supreme Court, and to end Yoon Seok-yeol's insurrection."
Representative Im Oh-kyung, who serves as head of the civil affairs policy office directly under the party chairman, is also reportedly considering whether to run. Representative Kang Deuk-gu, a close associate of Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, will hold a press conference to announce his candidacy on January 15. Kang has recently been vocal in criticizing Jung's one-person-one-vote party constitution amendment.
