Lee Jun-seok "Winning just by unification? Strange proposition, I do not agree"

Lee Jun-seok, Young Party Vision Committee Chairman of the New Conservative Party, is speaking at the 'Young Proposals' presentation and discussion session for the construction of the New Conservative Party held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of December 19 last year. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] Lee Jun-seok, Young Party Vision Committee member of the New Conservative Party, criticized the Innovation Integration Promotion Committee (혁통위) being promoted by the Liberty Korea Party and the New Conservative Party aiming for conservative unification, saying, "I cannot agree with the strange proposition that 'if we just unify, we will win.'"

On the 15th, Lee appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said, "Innovation must precede (unification), and reform must come first. Nevertheless, these days, there are people in the conservative camp who are close to being 'unification parrots,'" he said.

He continued, "People who repeat the same story are usually called 'O parrots.' So when asked 'How will you win the election?' they answer 'If we unify, we will win.' When asked 'How will you conduct the election?' they say 'If we unify, we will definitely win.' When asked 'What happens if you don't unify?' they say 'We will definitely lose,'" he explained.

He emphasized, "Of course, from the perspective of public sentiment, I understand that there are conservatives and moderate voters who have a strong desire for unification, but I cannot agree. Representative Yoo Seung-min and I oppose 'blind unification,'" he stressed.

Lee said, "(In the 18th presidential election) it was 51.6% to 48%. Even if you pull everything together, it is 51.6%, and you cannot say the terrain is better than then," adding, "Under Park Geun-hye's emergency committee leadership, the number of seats won in the general election was 152. Under a charismatic leader, with much moderation in policy, the number of seats won was 152. Those who think of unification as an absolute strategy now believe that unification alone will secure a majority," he pointed out.

He added, "I am someone who has to run in elections. At this point, if I think about whether I can agree with the proposition 'if we just unify, we will win' and approach the election even from a practical standpoint, I do not have that confidence," he added.

Regarding Liberty Korea Party leader Hwang Kyo-ahn's statement that he would reflect Yoo Seung-min, New Conservative Party's Conservative Reconstruction Committee Chairman's 'Three Principles for Conservative Reconstruction' in the 'Six Principles for Unification,' Lee said, "Hwang Kyo-ahn did not directly say 'I agree with Yoo Seung-min's three principles,' but said he would accept the six principles including the three principles," and criticized, "To be precise, he really dislikes saying 'I will accept Yoo Seung-min's three principles.'"

He said, "Even within the party, there are people who say 'Let's just roughly accept it as heard.' Therefore, that part is quite worrisome," and added, "If we compare it to a playground, to line up 1,000 students, you first set the standard and the raised hand standard spreads left and right. But if the standard is set where Hwang Kyo-ahn thinks now, I don't think the synergy will be great," he said.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.