Lee Jun-seok "Party members can only support 'intra-party candidates'"... Is Yoon pressuring Kim?

Lee Jun-seok "It's not easy to catch the next stop after missing the metropolitan bus you need to take"

A post uploaded by Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, on his social media on the 19th. Photo by Lee, captured from the leader's Facebook.

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, stated on the 19th, "Members of our party, including the party's lawmakers and heads of party member councils, are free to take positions and roles in the election camps of presidential candidates within the party, and to announce and carry out activities."

On the same day (19th), Lee allowed party members to publicly assist the election camps of presidential candidates within the party via his social media (SNS). He added, "However, to ensure fairness in managing the primary, those holding party positions such as the primary preparation committee, leadership, or floor leadership cannot participate or be active in the primary camps."

This is interpreted as allowing party members to assist Hong Joon-pyo, People Power Party lawmaker; Won Hee-ryong, Governor of Jeju; Yoo Seung-min, former lawmaker; and Choi Jae-hyung, former Board of Audit and Inspection chairman who recently joined the party, while maintaining distance from former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl and former Deputy Prime Minister Kim Dong-yeon.

Earlier, Lee appeared on KBS radio and commented on Yoon’s timing of joining the party, saying, "Missing the bus you need to take and chasing it by taxi to the next stop is not easy," adding, "If there is a reasonable reason to delay joining, the public will accept it, but if there is no reasonable reason and it is limited to political reasons, it will be a somewhat unwelcome choice."

(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Ahn Jung-won = Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the People Power Party, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 19th.

Meanwhile, on the 19th, the People Power Party approved the establishment of a task force (TF) for a public office candidate qualification exam, which was a major pledge of Lee. Accordingly, from the next local elections, those running as People Power Party candidates for elected public office must undergo a certain level of practical skill verification necessary for legislative activities.

Lee explained, "We will allow excellent private sector experts to participate in curriculum development and evaluation system construction," adding, "As I have stated several times in the media, the basic qualification exam for public office candidates aims to generally improve the abilities of those running for office and to provide a good educational program, so we named it the Competency Enhancement TF."

Regarding criticism that the public office candidate qualification exam "undermines the democratic spirit that anyone can represent the people," he said, "Our party already conducts moral verification, so certain restrictions on eligibility to run for office are already in place," and added, "From our standpoint, we have emphasized the educational function several times. We believe the majority of candidates will easily pass the exam."

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