Jokyungtae, Nakyeongwon Absent from Party Election: "Like Flat Beer... A Box Office Failure"

"If a Competitive Person Drops Out, the Jeondae Event Will Fail"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] On the 26th, Rep. Cho Kyung-tae, who is running for the party leader election at the People Power Party's March 8th party convention, criticized former Rep. Na Kyung-won’s declaration of not running for party leadership, saying, "Flat beer has no taste."

On the same day, right after a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office requesting a halt to the overheated party leadership competition, Rep. Cho told reporters, "When holding a party convention, people should be excited, but currently party members feel like 'Why are we holding this convention?' and the enthusiasm is fading," expressing his concerns.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Rep. Cho pointed to the joint petition by the People Power Party’s first-term lawmakers targeting former Rep. Na as a representative example of the 'overheated competition.' He said, "Voices criticizing rival candidates have been spreading through the media day after day, even forgetting the Lunar New Year holiday. I hear that joint petitions criticizing rival candidates are also circulating." Earlier, on the 17th, 50 first-term lawmakers of the People Power Party issued a critical statement pressuring former Rep. Na to withdraw from the party convention.

Regarding former Rep. Na, who declared her withdrawal the day before, he said, "Because a candidate with higher approval ratings has dropped out, the party convention is becoming uninteresting," adding, "If the convention feels like it is turning into one for a specific candidate, it would be better not to hold it at all. It might be better just to designate that person."

He added, "If highly competitive candidates drop out, it becomes less interesting, and the convention is likely to fail significantly in terms of popularity. The candidates who have come forward now should all feel heavy responsibility for this," explaining the purpose of holding the press conference.

However, regarding some criticisms that the president might be interfering in party affairs, Rep. Cho said, "I don’t see it that way," and explained, "It’s just that party members feel the atmosphere is heading in that direction."

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