"Begging for Nomination Is a Bit Much..." Ruling Party Debates Over Non-Ethical Candidates

"Lee Jun-seok and Cheon A-yong Should Be Nominated"
vs "Capital Region Crisis Theory? Overinterpretation"

Ahead of next year's general election, debates continue within the ruling party over whether to nominate former People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok and other non-Yoon (非尹) faction members. Some within the party argue that in the ongoing 'Capital Region Crisis' situation, a figure who appeals to the moderate and youth demographics is needed. The People Power Party leadership stated that their consistent principle is to give opportunities to candidates with competitiveness.

Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, who advocated the Capital Region Crisis theory, argued that candidates who can gain support from moderates and the 20s and 30s age groups should be nominated in next year's general election. In an interview with YTN Radio, Rep. Yoon emphasized, "It is not good for us to ideologically consolidate our support base too much," adding, "As the ruling party, it is much more important to devise strategies and present policies and visions regarding livelihood, policy, moderates, and the 2030 generation."

Rep. Yoon also stated that former leader Lee Jun-seok, who has an uncomfortable relationship with the pro-Yoon faction, and the 'Cheon Ah Yong In (Cheon Haram, Heo Eun-ah, Kim Yong-tae, Lee Gi-in)' group classified as Lee Jun-seok faction, "should obviously be nominated," adding, "We barely won last year's presidential election by 247,000 votes. We must go with a one-team spirit, and there should be no talk of excluding some and not others."

Rep. Yoon continued, "Mentioning the Capital Region Crisis is absolutely not intended to shake the leadership," and said, "If the party's ship sinks, the first to perish would be metropolitan area lawmakers like me. Who would want the ship to sink?" Rep. Yoon's constituency is Dong-gu Michuhol-gu B in Incheon.

Kim Ki-hyun, leader of the People Power Party (right), and Lee Cheol-gyu, secretary general (left). Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

On the other hand, some within the party criticized the Capital Region Crisis theory as 'noise marketing to increase presence.' Rep. Kim Jeong-jae targeted Rep. Yoon, saying, "There is some tendency to exaggerate his own crisis into a crisis for the entire party," and "I think this might be part of noise marketing."

Rep. Kim said, "Diverse opinions and harsh criticism are good, but there is no need to express them externally. There are routes to make harsh criticisms internally. If one continues to make statements attacking the party, it ultimately leaves an image of internal strife among party members," expressing opposition to associating with figures who excessively criticize the party internally.

The party leadership stated that the principle is to give nomination opportunities to competitive candidates. Senior Spokesperson Yoo Sang-beom explained in a CBS Radio interview regarding former leader Lee, "We have never excluded him," adding, "The leadership has one principle: we do not do things artificially, and if someone is competitive, they are given opportunities anytime."

Regarding Lee Jun-seok's statement that if he senses a 'nomination prank' regarding his candidacy, he would consider running as an independent or forming a new party, Yoo said, "He should strengthen communication with local residents, gain recognition, and be chosen; he should not throw tantrums or demand nominations from the central party," adding, "No one has ever thought of playing games with nominations."

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