Son Hak-kyu, Im Jae-hoon, Jang Jin-young Dismissed... Party Officials Urge 'Party Normalization'

Son Hak-kyu, leader of the Bareunmirae Party, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 3rd and delivering a speech. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Sohn Hak-kyu, leader of the Bareunmirae Party, dismissed Secretary-General Im Jae-hoon, Deputy Secretary-General Lee Haeng-ja, and Chief of Staff Jang Jin-young on the 4th.

According to the Bareunmirae Party, Leader Sohn notified Im, Lee, and Jang of their dismissal on that day. They had requested Leader Sohn to switch to an emergency committee system, but the request was not accepted. Subsequently, they refused to perform party duties, including not attending the Supreme Council meetings since the 3rd.

Secretary-General Im criticized, saying, "In short, regarding the current situation, excess is as bad as deficiency," and added, "Regardless of time and place, it is a universal truth in human conduct that excessive greed leads to ruin, a lesson from old sayings that must be kept in mind." He continued, "Until the last moment, I will do my best to rebuild a new party to check the harms of the two major parties through a new third party," and said, "If there is a way for Leader Sohn to survive by driving out me and the senior members, that path will only lead back to the mud-walled house."

Department heads of the Bareunmirae Party’s central party secretariat delivered a statement to the party leader’s office urging party unity and normalization. They stated, "Now that even the faint hope that the party could recover with the return of former lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo has collapsed, party officials who hear media reports that the party is once again in crisis without time to recover are overwhelmed with indescribable anxiety and despair."

They added, "Through repeated divisions and conflicts, we have learned the lesson that party unity must be prioritized above any political engineering solution. It is becoming clear that even the introduction of the semi-proportional representation system, achieved through the leader’s self-sacrifice, cannot contribute to winning the general election in the face of party division and conflict," and emphasized, "Alliances and mergers with other parties will be futile if our foundation is not solid."

They concluded, "Please achieve party unity and lay the groundwork for party normalization through communication with responsible party members," and urged, "Please carefully oversee and make every effort to ensure that no more comrades are lost."

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