Joo Su-jin's KakaoTalk Exposure Adds to Ruling Party's Troubles... Kim Byung-min Says "I Don't Understand"

Exposing Party Leadership's Embarrassment... "Very Regrettable"

Controversy has arisen after the content of KakaoTalk messages exchanged between Cho Su-jin, a Supreme Council member of the People Power Party, and Kim Seong-ho, deputy director of the Yeouido Research Institute, regarding the appointment of party officials, was captured by media cameras.

According to photos taken by Yonhap News and others, on the morning of the 16th during the People Power Party Supreme Council meeting, Cho sent Kim the 'major party official appointment proposals,' including the party secretary-general, policy committee chairman, and nominated Supreme Council members. In response, Kim said, "This is absurd, Representative Kim Ki-hyun is going to be oustedㅜㅜ."

Rep. So Su-jin of the People Power Party is looking at a text message with Kim Seong-ho, Vice President of the Yeouido Institute, during the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 16th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The major party official appointment proposals sent by Cho to Kim included ▲Nominated Supreme Council member Representative Kim Ye-ji ▲Secretary-General Representative Park Dae-chul ▲Deputy Head of Organization Ham Kyung-woo, head of the Gwangju Gap district party committee in Gyeonggi ▲Chief Spokesperson Representative Park Jeong-ha ▲Senior Spokesperson Yoon Hee-seok ▲Director of the Yeouido Research Institute Representative Kim Seong-won. These match all the appointments announced by the People Power Party after the Supreme Council meeting that day, except for 'Secretary-General Park Dae-chul.'

Representative Park Dae-chul was the previous policy committee chairman. Representative Kim Ki-hyun appointed Lee Man-hee (Gyeongbuk Yeongcheon-Cheongdo) as the new secretary-general.

The appointments announced that day were replacements following the resignation of all appointed party officials who took responsibility for the defeat in the Seoul Gangseo District mayoral by-election. While some within the party expressed dissatisfaction with the decision to have only appointed officials resign while maintaining the Kim Ki-hyun leadership, the party quickly formed a 'second-term system' to manage the aftermath of the defeat. However, in this situation, the capture of KakaoTalk messages exchanged between Cho and Kim further exposed the chaotic internal atmosphere.

The People Power Party leadership could not hide their embarrassment. Supreme Council member Kim Byung-min appeared on YTN and said, "(The fact that) the text messages were revealed externally like this is undesirable," adding, "I do not understand why conversations that took place well before the Supreme Council meeting were exchanged via mobile phones."

He continued, "After the previously discussed matters were all adjusted, it is very regrettable that such scenes, difficult to comment on, were displayed to the media."

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