Won Hee-ryong: "Becoming a Progressive Copycat Means Eternal Second Place... Must Wear Conservative Uniform and Win"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Lee Ji-eun and Lim Chun-han] 'Opposition dark horse' Won Hee-ryong, Governor of Jeju, raised his voice saying that "being a copycat of progressives means being forever second" and emphasized the need to preserve the 'conservative gene.' He also stressed 'self-reliance theory,' saying, "Victory must come from us, not mercenaries."

On the 9th, at a lecture hosted by the office of Jang Je-won, a member of the Future United Party, during the 'Republic of Korea Future Innovation Forum,' Governor Won said, "To overcome the crisis head-on, we must recover and win with the conservative gene."

He said, "Above all, the important thing is that the victory must be our victory. Not a victory by mercenaries, but a victory by us," adding, "We must wear the uniform of conservatism that led the bold historical changes in the Republic of Korea and win." This is interpreted as a warning against Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman of the United Party, who openly said "I dislike conservatism" and is leading the party with a 'post-conservative' stance.

However, he also said, "We must win with the entry of our comrades who left and returned when the party was in trouble," but emphasized the necessity of Kim's presence by saying, "Just as we needed Hiddink, we also need mercenary foreign coaches and mercenaries."

Governor Won evaluated, "The dynamism of conservatism that led bold changes in the history of the Republic of Korea and discovering it is the core driving force of modern Korean history and our identity," adding, "Korean conservatism compromised with democracy, the real-name financial system, and the introduction of universal health insurance, thereby filling the content of formal democracy with substantive democracy through compromise, and without civil war or coups, joined the ranks of democratic nations."

He continued, "When an era of change came, conservatism chose to break through head-on with a cold realistic understanding and evaluation within the movements of the global world order, and because of such boldness, despite many problems, the people supported it as the only ruling power," adding, "But at some point, the driving force of bold conservatism faded and became timid and petty. We must recover the bold change gene we inherited."

He viewed basic income positively but warned against 'populism.' Governor Won said, "In Jeju, many approaches to education, jobs, and helping the real lives of our people through productive welfare are called basic income, and we are building policies that guarantee the basic capabilities and opportunities of the people," adding, "Populism that steals future generation assets because we are unprepared and takes them now to redistribute must be corrected."

He criticized the ruling party, saying, "Fake progressive groups have no ability to solve COVID-19; what they are good at is ideology and agitation," and "They gained popularity and votes by taking and redistributing only during their term, and then planned to hold power and solve issues later?this is the essence of fake progressives becoming power-holders and vested interests." Nevertheless, he emphasized that "First, we must make efforts to resolve the dislike, hatred, or hostility that sticks to us like gum. No matter how critical we are of the current administration, we hear 'That's not your place to say,'" and stressed that the opposition party must also strive to shed hatred.

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