On the Day the Party Election Rules Changed... Yoo Seung-min Posted 'Jungggeokma' on SNS

People Power Party Changes Party Convention Primary Rules to 100% Party Member Vote
Park Ji-won: "Is This the Era of the Three Kims?"
Yoo Seung-min Burning with Determination... 'What Matters Is an Unyielding Heart'

Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyu-hong attended the indoor mask mandate lifting party-government consultation meeting held at the National Assembly on the 22nd, and before the meeting started, he took off his mask and talked with Jeong Jin-seok, the Emergency Committee Chairman of the People Power Party. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] "The era of ‘1 million responsible party members’ is about to begin. The choice of these 1 million responsible party members cannot be swayed by any organizational activities. In other words, it is an era where ‘party sentiment is the public sentiment.’"

The People Power Party held a national committee meeting on the 23rd and passed a revision to the party constitution and regulations to elect the party leader and supreme council members through 100% party member voting at the party convention next March. This changes the choice made 18 years ago to apply public opinion polls of the general public, not party members, in selecting the party leader.

The inclusion of public opinion in the party leader election dates back to the era of the Grand National Party, the predecessor of the People Power Party. At that time, facing a sharp drop in party support ahead of the 17th general election due to the backlash from impeachment, it was decided to reflect party sentiment and public sentiment equally at 50-50 to raise the party’s support rate and attract public attention. Since then, the ratio between party sentiment and public sentiment has changed slightly, but the principle of reflecting some public opinion has been maintained.

The party leadership justifies the revision with the logic that "in the era of 1 million party members, party sentiment is public sentiment." Jeong Jin-seok, the emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, posted on social media (SNS), "The amendment to the party constitution is not a matter of advantage or disadvantage but a matter of principle to establish party democracy properly. We must now ensure the success of the Yoon Seok-yeol government, which was established by the ‘hands of party members,’ with the ‘power of party members.’"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

However, suspicions that the revision targets a specific individual have not subsided. This is because there is a party leadership candidate whose advantage or disadvantage greatly depends on the ratio of public sentiment to party sentiment reflected. This candidate is former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min, the frontrunner of the ‘Non-Yoon (비윤)’ faction. He ranks first in the next party leader polls when combining general public and party members, but when the survey is limited to party members only, he falls behind candidates Na Kyung-won and Ahn Cheol-soo.

The rule change to exclude a specific individual is unlikely to be positively evaluated by the public. Former Presidential Chief of Staff Park Ji-won appeared on YTN Radio’s ‘News King Park Ji-hoon’ on the same day and said, "Having 100% party members elect the leader means the People Power Party has no people, only the president’s power," adding, "No matter how clever people devise tricks, such tricks will not gain public support." He criticized it as a ‘trick’ that could only exist in the era of an imperial party president. He said, "When the ‘Three Kims’?Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung, and Kim Jong-pil?were party presidents, they appointed the party leader," and added, "It would be better to go with an appointment system rather than complicate things."

Meanwhile, despite the confirmation of the party convention rule change on the same day, former lawmaker Yoo posted on his SNS with the tag ‘Junggyeokma (an unyielding heart is what matters)’ along with a link to a game theme song video. The lyrics of the video include the line, "Prove every day that they are wrong," which is interpreted as expressing his determination to run for office without giving up despite the rule change.

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