In the End, Yoon Seok-yeol and Lee Jun-seok Crossed the Line... Efforts to Mend Continued but Led to a 'Catastrophe'

Conflict at Supreme Council over Appointment of Lee Cheol-gyu as Deputy Chief of Strategy Office
Reconciliation Efforts Continue with Yoon Seok-yeol's Greetings on Yeouido Commute
Discussion of Lee Jun-seok's 'Recall' at People Power Party Lawmakers' Meeting

[Asia Economy reporters Naju-seok and Park Joon-yi] Despite undergoing major restructuring, including the departure of former People Power Party (PPP) General Election Committee Chairman Kim Jong-in, chaos continued within Yoon Seok-yeol’s campaign committee. Yoon ultimately clashed with PPP leader Lee Jun-seok, and the PPP parliamentary meeting even discussed the possibility of summoning Lee.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 6th, Yoon and Lee crossed the thin line they had cautiously maintained and engaged in a direct confrontation. Although Lee had expressed issues with the campaign committee’s operations by resigning from all his positions within the committee, he had avoided openly opposing the candidate until now. However, a completely different scenario unfolded that day. Yoon and Lee clashed at the Supreme Council over the appointment of lawmaker Lee Cheol-gyu as the party’s Strategic Office Deputy Chief. Both sides agreed without objection on appointing Kwon Young-se as the campaign headquarters secretary-general.

Lee appeared to oppose lawmaker Lee Cheol-gyu because he regarded him as a Yoon core insider (Yoon Hae-gwan) who had been controversial as an unofficial advisor. Additionally, Lee and lawmaker Lee had previously clashed in August last year over real estate transactions involving PPP lawmakers, as investigated by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.

Previously, on the 3rd of last month, Yoon and Lee had agreed during a meeting in Ulsan that “the priority in party affairs granted to the presidential candidate means that the candidate requests the party leader regarding election-related matters, and the party leader respects and follows the candidate’s intentions.” Despite Yoon’s request as the appointing authority, Lee opposed it.

Within the party, criticism against Lee had intensified, pointing out issues such as the Yoon core insider problem and criticizing the campaign committee’s shortcomings. It was seen as internal sabotage ahead of the presidential election.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

However, even if measures such as impeachment begin, it is uncertain whether Lee will actually step down as party leader. According to party rules and regulations, unless Lee voluntarily resigns, it is difficult to remove him before the presidential election.

Until the morning of that day, there was even speculation about a dramatic reconciliation between the two sides. The PPP sought coexistence between Yoon and Lee through a complete overhaul of the campaign committee the previous day. Lee had said the day before, “I think Yoon has considerable interest in the 2030 generation and has admitted that the current approach to the 2030 generation has trial and error or mistakes,” adding, “Expectations for some changes starting today will rise.”

Yoon and Lee also clashed the previous day over “practice problems.” Lee had presented proposals related to Yoon’s campaign to campaign headquarters chief Kwon in the form of “practice problems.” According to reports, these proposals included forming a special committee on gender and gaming issues, which had caused confusion related to subway greetings and recent candidate pledges, appointing lawmaker Ha Tae-kyung as chairman, and undertaking platform labor experience.

However, since these schedules were not reflected in Yoon’s itinerary, Lee judged that Yoon had rejected the proposals.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Nonetheless, Yoon showed signs of accepting Lee’s demands by deciding to greet commuters at Yeouido Station that morning.

Accordingly, there was talk of a dramatic reconciliation. However, despite these efforts, the two sides clashed head-on through personnel appointments and other matters.

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