Lee Jun-seok: "Mindeulle is not a good political choice... Hope the Ethics Committee acts quickly"

Held 1st Anniversary Press Conference
"Loss of Momentum Due to Early Factionalism in Lee Myung-bak Government"
Will Discuss Censorship and Ukraine Issues at High-Level Party-Government Meeting
"Creating Internal Communication Structure Is Important"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Hyun-ji] On the 12th, Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, expressed a negative stance again regarding the party's pro-Yoon (pro-Yoon Seok-yeol) lawmakers' group called ‘Mindeulle (tentative name),’ saying, “It was a politically bad choice, so I had no choice but to criticize it,” and added, “I hope actions that could cause misunderstandings or bring disrepute to the president will be planned more cautiously.”

At a press conference held on the same day at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, marking his first anniversary in office, Lee said, “Inviting the prime minister and ministers to give lectures at a party-led meeting can be perceived as establishing a hierarchical relationship depending on the perspective, which could also generate discord.” He then referred to the early internal divisions during the Lee Myung-bak administration. He expressed concern, saying, “It is true that the momentum of the Lee Myung-bak government was greatly weakened due to early divisions for reasons known to many, including the late former lawmaker Jeong Du-eon, who contributed significantly to the birth of President Lee Myung-bak, as well as Standing Advisor Lee Jae-oh and former lawmaker Lee Sang-deuk, and that the government went through a very difficult period during the mad cow disease incident.”

When asked about his role as party leader at the first high-level party-government-presidential meeting of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration scheduled for the 29th, he said, “Since the presidential transition committee period, I have had opportunities to meet the president one-on-one and discussed policy directions many times,” adding, “At the high-level party-government-presidential meeting, I will talk about realizing policies that concretize freedom.”

He cited the “censorship issue” as a representative example. He said, “During the presidential election period, I raised objections to the KakaoTalk censorship initiated by the Moon Jae-in administration. It is also true that we are having concrete discussions on how to policy-wise approach it differently.” In addition, he presented foreign policy issues such as the Ukraine situation as agenda items.

Regarding the ‘systematic nomination’ promoted by the Innovation Committee, he stated, “I don’t know who will be the next party leader, and the nomination system could be completely overhauled, but that doesn’t mean we can’t create a system thinking about this,” clarifying his intention to push forward. He added, “In the recent local elections, we used a combination of primaries and single-candidate nominations in various forms, but the winning rate in areas with single-candidate nominations was not that high.”

He also emphasized the importance of the party’s democratic system. Lee said, “There were cases where the party’s high-level information was not shared with party members, and the discourse production space was with YouTubers rather than the party,” adding, “It is important to create a communication structure for 800,000 to 1 million party members.” He further said, “The idea of favoring not those who distinguish themselves by party membership fees but those who actively participate in party-hosted events, propose policies or express opinions in party-designated communication spaces, and actively express their intentions in party surveys is an unprecedented attempt worldwide.”

Regarding the party ethics committee that will decide on disciplinary action over the allegations of ‘sexual bribery’ against Lee, he said, “There have been no responses. The ethics committee date keeps being postponed, but I hope it will be held soon, whether it is a police investigation or the ethics committee.” Lee had proposed holding the party ethics committee as a public meeting on the 3rd.

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