Chung Cheong-lai, leader of South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party, resigned Wednesday, Yonhap news agency reported.
Reported that Zheng Qinglai in the same day to attend the meeting of the Supreme Committee of the Democratic Party issued the decision. Democratic party whip Han Bingdao will take over the party leadership.
Zheng Qinglai, file photo. Source: Korean media
The Yonhap news agency said Chung had presumably made the decision to run for re-election at the party’s National Congress, scheduled for Aug. 17. Analysts believe that Zheng Qinglai, outgoing Prime Minister Kim min-seok and Song Yong-ji, former head of the Democratic Party, will run for the party leadership, presenting a three-way competition pattern.
South Korean media reported on the 12th of this month that because the Democratic Party failed to win key positions such as mayor of Seoul in a local election held on the 3rd, Chung Ching-lai was“Forced into a palace” by the party, several Democratic Party lawmakers called on him to take the blame and resign.