Met Party Members Diligently for 3 Weeks... Lee Jun-seok Launches Fierce Attack on President Yoon's Mention of Transition to Emergency Committee

Lee Launches Full-Scale Counterattack in Off-Site Public Opinion Battle
"Presidential Office Lacks Courage and Responsibility to Criticize Yoon's Mistakes"
Criticism of President Yoon's Remark, "Have You Seen Excellent Ministers in Previous Administrations?"

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party. / Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] As the People Power Party has entered the full-scale process of transitioning to an emergency response committee system, Representative Lee Jun-seok is strongly opposing it by directly mentioning President Yoon Seok-yeol. After being suspended from party membership for six months, Lee spent the past three weeks meeting party members nationwide, engaging in 'extraparliamentary politics.' This was analyzed as an attempt to consolidate his support base and lay the groundwork for his return to the leadership position. However, with the internal conclusion that Lee will be automatically dismissed upon the launch of the emergency committee, he now faces the crossroads of stepping down from his position as representative.

On the 3rd, when the People Power Party announced plans to hold the Standing National Committee and the National Committee by the 10th at the latest to approve amendments to the party constitution and complete the process of electing the emergency committee chairperson, Lee posted a series of critical comments on Facebook. Lee pointed out, "Just because the party situation is not an emergency, I have only been meeting party members around the regions for the past three weeks, but during that time, some groups were badmouthing Lee Jun-seok, and when the texts were caught on camera and approval ratings dropped, the solution presented was a decision to block Lee Jun-seok's return."

He continued, "Officially, our party is not in an emergency state. The party has changed a lot since the party leader who was internally criticizing others was replaced, and isn't it doing well? We should continue like this," criticizing the party by alluding to the expressions referring to him in text messages exchanged between President Yoon and Representative Kwon Seong-dong, acting party leader and floor leader.

Lee sharpened his criticism further by referring to President Yoon's controversial remark last month, "Have you seen any excellent ministers from the previous administration?" On the 4th, sharing a column from the Chosun Ilbo, Lee criticized, "The presidential office neither had the courage to point out that this remark was wrong nor the sense of responsibility to correct it." The column Lee shared detailed how Park Min-young, the youth spokesperson of the People Power Party, publicly criticized President Yoon's remark, which reportedly angered the president and may have influenced Lee's disciplinary action.

At that time, Spokesperson Park criticized President Yoon, saying, "'Didn't the Democratic Party do the same?' is not an answer to the public's question, 'Didn't we elect you to not be like the Democratic Party?'" Park is an alumnus of the spokesperson debate audition "I am the National Representative," led by Lee.

In response, Lee said, "If this situation arose because Spokesperson Park criticized the president, it is quite regrettable," and claimed, "Kang In-seon (presidential office) spokesperson did not do her job, while Park Min-young spokesperson did more than her duty with courage and a sense of responsibility." He argued that while the presidential office spokesperson did not voice criticism over potentially problematic remarks, Spokesperson Park took responsibility and spoke out.

A post by Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, criticizing President Yoon Suk-yeol's remark, "Have you seen any excellent ministers from the previous administration?" / Screenshot from Lee's Facebook page

Those considered to be in the pro-Lee Jun-seok faction are also strongly opposing the transition to the emergency committee system. Representative Ha Tae-kyung criticized the interpretation by Seo Byung-soo, chairman of the National Committee, that "once the emergency committee is launched, Lee's return to the representative position is impossible," saying, "According to the current party constitution and regulations, the launch of the emergency committee is impossible from the start. The emergency committee can only be launched by amending the party constitution and regulations," and pointed out, "In this situation, interpreting that Lee's return is impossible based on the current party constitution and regulations is a contradictory interpretation."

Representative Choi Jae-hyung also said it is difficult to judge the current situation as an 'emergency situation,' which is a prerequisite for transitioning to the emergency committee under the party constitution, and warned, "If the emergency committee is forcibly established without consensus from the entire leadership, including the party leader, the party could fall into greater confusion." The People Power Party plans to hold the Standing National Committee on the 5th to interpret whether the current party situation constitutes an 'emergency situation,' and at the National Committee on the 9th, to approve amendments to the party constitution that grant the authority to appoint the emergency committee chairperson not only to the representative and acting representative but also to the acting party leader, and to complete the appointment of the emergency committee chairperson.

Lee has signaled a counterattack. Referring to news that a statement urging the transition to the emergency committee, signed by 32 first-term lawmakers whose full list has not been disclosed, was delivered to the party leadership, he wrote, "This low-level behavior of using anonymity and not disclosing names to fill 32 out of 63 first-term lawmakers to make it seem like a majority. I will organize and keep all future content on record and disclose it. It might be necessary soon." This is interpreted as indicating his intention to take legal action, such as filing an injunction to suspend the effectiveness of the emergency committee's launch.

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