Na Kyung-won Revives 'Factional Dispute': "Is Lee Jun-seok and Yoo Seung-min the Only Ones Boarding the Primary Train and Leaving?"

"The Primary Election, Party Members Will Make Strategic Decisions"

On the afternoon of the 30th, at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center in Chipyeong-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju, Na Kyung-won, a candidate for the People Power Party leader, is presenting her policy platform at the joint speech meeting for party leader and supreme council member candidates from Gwangju, Jeonbuk, Jeonnam, and Jeju.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Former lawmaker Na Kyung-won, who entered the main race for the People Power Party (PPP) leadership, criticized her rival, former Future United Party Supreme Council member Lee Jun-seok, saying, "Isn't he just taking former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min on the PPP (presidential) primary train and leaving?" She emphasized that Lee is part of the 'Yoo Seung-min faction,' reigniting factional disputes.

In an interview with BBS's 'Park Kyung-soo's Morning Journal' on the morning of the 31st, Na said in response to questions about factional disputes that arose during the first preliminary primary, "Until two weeks before Lee's candidacy, he said in interviews that he was the 'representative of the Yoo Seung-min faction,' and about a year ago, he said he wanted to make Yoo Seung-min president when entering the 21st National Assembly."

Before announcing the main primary candidates on the 26th, Na posted on Facebook, "If the party leader is misunderstood as belonging to a specific faction or supporting a particular candidate, it will be difficult for the PPP to gain trust from all presidential candidates," targeting other candidates. In response, Lee accused Na of "receiving full support from the old pro-Park faction," and lawmaker Kim Woong rebutted that factional politics is an "illusion."

On the radio that day, Na reiterated, "There are factions in politics, and people can do politics with those they are close to. However, this party leader should be a candidate who is not particularly close to any presidential candidate and does not belong to any faction, so that fair and neutral presidential election management is possible."

Regarding the possibility of unification with lawmaker Joo Ho-young, she dismissed it, saying, "There has been no discussion of unification at all," and added, "Wouldn't all the senior and rookie candidates who ran this time have the same mindset?"

About the main primary, she said, "Party members will now make strategic judgments," adding, "The party leader must manage next year's presidential election and local elections, and it is a challenging position more than ever. I believe they will carefully judge who can solve these difficult tasks one by one."

However, on the same day, Lee appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said that a week of negative campaigning followed the last preliminary primary, but "being part of the Yoo Seung-min faction didn't have much impact," adding, "It's inefficient. If I were on the opposing side, I wouldn't have done that."

He continued, "Many people say that if I become party leader, I will go all-in to make Yoo Seung-min president, but whether it's Yoo Seung-min, Yoon Seok-yeol, Hong Joon-pyo, or Ahn Cheol-soo, anyone must be made president," emphasizing, "It's a matter of whether to make a president or not, and making someone a candidate cannot be the goal."

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