The Dysfunctional People Power Party... Is Lee Jun-seok Also Being Left Out?

Discussion on the 'Summons Request' for Party Leader at Emergency Meeting
Yoon and Lee Clash Head-on over Campaign Committee Appointments

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The People Power Party has officially begun discussing the 'impeachment resolution' against party leader Lee Jun-seok in a formal meeting. At the lawmakers' meeting held on the morning of the 6th, a 'summons request' effectively impeaching Lee was proposed and is currently under discussion. If the impeachment resolution is adopted and Lee steps down, the election campaign headquarters for presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol will be relaunched excluding both Kim Jong-in and Lee Jun-seok.

On this day, the People Power Party experienced confusion throughout the morning regarding the personnel appointments for the newly formed election campaign headquarters. Candidate Yoon attended a closed supreme council meeting in the morning and proceeded with the consultation process to appoint lawmaker Kwon Young-se as party secretary-general and lawmaker Lee Cheol-gyu as deputy head of strategic planning. After the lawmakers' meeting, Yoon told reporters, "I did not make recommendations but personally nominated them and requested opinions from the supreme council," adding, "I confirmed that there were opinions agreeing without particular objections as well as some opposing views."

It was reported that during the closed meeting, Lee Jun-seok strongly opposed the appointment of the deputy head. Although Lee did not publicly state his position on this matter, it is known that despite Lee's opposition, candidate Yoon plans to push through the appointments using 'party affairs priority rights.' Lee’s side also opposes the appointment of lawmaker Lee, viewing him as one of the 'Yoon core associates (Yoonhaekgwan).'

During the subsequent lawmakers' meeting, a heated debate broke out among members over the resolution for the party leader’s resignation. This was because a proposal was made to freely express opinions on the resignation resolution. The proposal did not come from the floor leadership but was personally suggested by lawmaker Chu Kyung-ho. Chu (floor deputy leader) reportedly said at the closed lawmakers' meeting, "Today’s meeting is supposed to be a new beginning for our party, but we still cannot see any change in the party leader," adding, "I can no longer tolerate this. It is time to decide on the party leader’s resignation, so let’s make that decision here." This sparked a lively discussion among the lawmakers.

Meanwhile, candidate Yoon expressed at the lawmakers' meeting his intention to 'reject' the collective resignation offers made by floor leader Kim Ki-hyun and others.

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