Yoon-Kwon Texts Rekindle Emergency Committee... 2030 Generation Turns Away

Party leadership steps in to manage
Calls for transition to emergency committee arise
Growing youth backlash supporting Lee Jun-seok

Kwon Seong-dong, Acting Leader of the People Power Party, arrived at the National Assembly on the 27th and bowed his head in apology to the public after stating his position in front of the floor leader's office regarding the disclosure of text messages with President Yoon Seok-yeol in the plenary session the previous day. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Bomryeong Geum, Hyunji Kwon] The controversy surrounding a portion of a text message sent by President Yoon Seok-yeol to Kwon Seong-dong, acting leader of the People Power Party and floor leader, continues to simmer. Although the party leadership has remained silent or tried to downplay the issue as "not a big deal," voices calling for an "early party convention" and a "transition to an emergency committee system" are resurfacing internally. As President Yoon’s discomfort with Acting Leader Kwon became apparent through this incident, backlash is growing especially among the 2030 youth demographic.

On the 27th, Acting Leader Kwon bowed once again during a meeting with reporters at the National Assembly, following his apology the previous day. He said, "I sincerely apologize to party members and the public for the leak and disclosure of private text messages due to my carelessness." However, he added, "As a principle, I will not confirm the content of the messages," and refused to respond to any further questions.

Other party leaders, including Sung Il-jong, chairman of the People Power Party’s Policy Committee, emphasized that the messages were private conversations and sought to minimize their significance. Sung appeared on a radio show that day and said, "It was a private matter, so is it really such big news?" He added, "It is not appropriate to excessively amplify private exchanges that were meant as encouragement to the leadership." Song Eon-seok, senior deputy floor leader, also drew a line, saying, "Please do not interpret this as any internal conflict or discord within the party."

However, dissatisfaction with the Kwon Seong-dong acting leadership appears to be resurfacing as a result of this incident. Calls for an early party convention or a shift to an emergency committee system, which had been dormant, are being raised again. A senior People Power Party lawmaker said in a phone interview, "Now is the time to form an emergency committee and show a path toward a party convention," adding, "The acting leader is neither representative of the party’s color nor of the Yoon core group (key associates of President Yoon Seok-yeol). Someone else should take the role of emergency committee chairperson, similar to the current Democratic Party’s emergency committee system." Criticism of Acting Leader Kwon is also emerging. Another senior lawmaker pointed out, "There are ongoing criticisms within the party due to Kwon’s missteps such as the agreement on the prosecution reform bill and controversies over private hiring," and added, "His behavior is repetitive, like that of a first-term lawmaker." Acting Leader Kwon has apologized three times since taking office.

Disappointment among young party members and officials of the People Power Party is also notable. Park Min-young, party spokesperson born in 1993, wrote on Facebook, "I trusted the president even until the moment the Ethics Committee confirmed severe disciplinary action against the acting leader for criticizing the president’s personnel remarks. But now, I am not so sure," and criticized, "How can the bitter criticism from young people who wish for the president’s success and the party’s change, and the growing pains that come with it, be simply dismissed as internal bickering?" Kim Yong-tae, a young supreme council member born in 1990, also pointed out, "Starting from the chief of staff at the presidential office to the spokesperson, senior aides, and advisors?what exactly do they usually discuss about the president and party-government relations, and what information do they provide that made the president perceive it as internal bickering? It is baffling."

Backlash from the 2030 youth who supported the acting leader is also growing. On the party’s member bulletin board, posts appeared saying, "If it weren’t for Lee Jun-seok, I wouldn’t have voted for Yoon Seok-yeol," and "Acting Leader Kwon should resign." In online communities, young people emphasized, "While Lee Jun-seok is absent, I will vote for the Democratic Party," and "What we need to do now to save Lee Jun-seok is to join the party."

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