Kim Min-seok, a former prime minister and candidate for the leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 15th unveiled a "Four Reform Plans" centered on youth, unity, member sovereignty, and nominations, and said he would pursue an alliance with the Rebuilding Korea Party based on "three principles." Kim also pledged to create an organization under the direct control of the party leader and to overhaul the nomination system, stressing, "Starting today, I will end negative campaigning and shift to a competition of visions."
At a press conference held that day at the Democratic Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, Kim unveiled the four reform proposals, whose main pillars are a Democratic Party for youth, a grand unification to win, a member-sovereignty AI cultural party, and a fair system-based nomination process. "The four reforms I am announcing today concern party reform, the four reforms to be announced next week will concern social reform, and the four policies to follow will contain the nation's core policies," he said, adding that he would turn the party convention into an arena for competition over policies and visions.
"I will establish a Grand Unification Task Force under the direct control of the party leader to pursue strategies of alliance, unification, and expansion," Kim said. "If all three conditions are met — the agreement of Democratic Party members, the agreement of Rebuilding Korea Party members, and the maintenance of the Democratic Party's name and identity — a merger can take place, and if even one is not met, we can form an alliance."
Regarding the controversy surrounding his earlier use of the term "absorption merger," Kim said, "I was thoroughly explaining a legal term," adding, "From today onward, I will not use the term absorption merger. I will pursue an alliance with the Rebuilding Korea Party based on the three principles."
As youth pledges, he proposed creating a "1030 Policy Group" under the direct control of the party leader and holding regular youth party-government consultations and pan-ministerial youth-related minister meetings. He also said he would push for the creation of a minister-level youth policy committee, the systematization of youth party member internships, and the establishment of permanent training for policy experts. Regarding the failure the previous day to introduce a youth supreme council member system, he said it was "regrettable" and pledged to allocate one appointed supreme council member seat to youth immediately after the party convention.
The reform proposals also include an overhaul of party operations and the nomination system. Kim said he would establish a "Member Sovereignty Task Force" and a "System Nomination Innovation Group" under the direct control of the party leader to introduce a deliberative all-member voting system and AI-based deliberative democracy, and would push to expand the rights of long-term members and to open major meetings to the public. In the area of nominations, he said he would re-establish a fair system-based nomination process through measures such as disclosing ARS primary data, making primary debates mandatory, strengthening qualifications for public office candidates, and introducing a one-shot preferential voting system.
"There is no future for the Democratic Party unless it is reborn as a youth-friendly party," Kim said. "From today onward, I will fully bring competition over visions to the forefront." He said that following the announcement of the four reform proposals, he plans to successively announce the "Four Reforms" containing social reform tasks next week, followed by the "Four Policies" containing the nation's core policies.
