Yoon Establishes Game Special Committee, Solves Second Issue Lee Left

Appointing Representative Ha Tae-kyung as Chairman
Watching LCK Opening Match After Pledge Announcement
Interest in Further Rebound of Recovery Trend Approval Ratings

Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, and Lee Jun-seok, the party leader, are embracing at a members' meeting held at the National Assembly on the evening of the 6th. 2022.1.6 [Photo by National Assembly Photo Service] [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, has completed two out of three “practice problems” set by Lee Jun-seok, the party leader. By carrying out the first task, “greeting commuters on the subway,” the two managed to create an opportunity for reconciliation. The second task, “establishing a Special Committee on Games and appointing Representative Ha Tae-kyung,” was also completed without any major issues. The Games Special Committee is part of Lee’s strategy to capture the support of men in their 20s and 30s, and there is interest in whether the recently recovering approval ratings will see an additional boost.

On the 12th, Candidate Yoon announced four pledges at the People Power Party headquarters aimed at resolving unfairness in the gaming market, including “full disclosure of probability-type item information.” Representative Ha, who was appointed as the chair of the Games Special Committee, was present at the announcement. Ha, who has been active in efforts targeting men in their 20s and 30s within the party, has no prominent connection with Candidate Yoon. Although classified as a “political comrade” of former Representative Yoo Seung-min, Ha joined Yoon’s campaign only after losing in the party primary. At that time, Ha said, “Honestly, it was not an easy time. I thought about it a lot.” However, after Yoon was selected as the final candidate, Ha did not officially join the election campaign committee. Regarding the resolution calling for Lee’s resignation raised at the party meeting on the 6th, Ha also expressed a differing opinion from those in Yoon’s camp pushing for Lee’s resignation, stating, “If Lee Jun-seok is ousted, the presidential election will be lost automatically.” Lee recommended Ha as the party’s only expert on “games and gender,” and making the appointment of Ha, who is not a “Yoon core insider (Yoonhakkwan),” a priority was presented as the “second task.”

Meanwhile, after announcing pledges including the “establishment of a dedicated investigative unit for small-scale game fraud” on the same day, Candidate Yoon moved to the eSports stadium “LoL Park” to watch the opening match of the game tournament (League of Legends Champions Korea, LCK) together with Lee. The political sphere is paying attention to the political value of this, given that many young men in their 20s and 30s are accustomed to communicating through games. Communication through games extends into communities. Within these communities, communication and public opinion formation occur not only about games but also political issues and social matters. The representative community for men in their 20s and 30s, “FM Korea,” was created by users who played the soccer game “Football Manager.” Lee said on a radio appearance that day, “If the younger generation leads community opinion online and persuades the parent generation, there will be a strong bond.”

Thanks to pledges such as abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, raising soldiers’ monthly pay to 2 million won, and interest in the gaming industry, Candidate Yoon’s support among the 20s and 30s is also on the rise. In a poll conducted by Realmeter on behalf of YTN from the 10th to 11th (nationwide, 1,011 men and women aged 18 and over, with a sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level), Yoon was competing within the margin of error with Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, with 39.2% and 36.9%, respectively. Among those in their 20s, Yoon’s support rate was 41.3%. Considering that in a Realmeter poll conducted on the 3rd and 4th focusing only on the 20s and 30s (nationwide, 1,024 men and women aged 18 to 39, with a sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level), Yoon’s support among those in their 20s was 15.1%, this is a significant change. Meanwhile, the last practice problem set by Lee is to experience delivery labor. Candidate Yoon is expected to carry out this task around the Lunar New Year holiday.

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