"Choosing Whether to Leave or Stay in December"… Will Yoo Seung-min and Lee Jun-seok Form a New Party?

Yoo Seung-min: "New party is an option, a last resort"

Former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min, representing the non-Yoon (非尹) faction within the People Power Party, announced that he will decide whether to leave or stay in the party by December, hinting at the possibility of forming a new party. Alongside him, former party leader Lee Jun-seok, who is mentioned as a central figure for the new party formation, has drawn a line for now but said "interpretation is free," leaving the possibility open. There are also speculations that if a new party centered on the non-Yoon faction emerges, it could secure proportional representation seats.

On the 17th, Yoo said on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "Until December, I will do my part and raise my voice for the party's change and reform, and around December, I will decide whether to leave or stay," adding, "Forming a new party is always an open option and a last resort."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In political circles, there have long been speculations that Yoo and Lee would leave the party together to form a new party. Particularly, former National Intelligence Service Director Park Ji-won, who has consistently made such claims, stated on CPBC radio on the 16th, "Since last year, people like former leader Lee and former lawmaker Yoo have been asserting that they will form a new party," fueling the new party formation rumors.

In response to Park's speculation, Yoo said, "Nothing has been decided," but still left the possibility of forming a new party open. Yoo added, "My affection for this party is much stronger than for President Yoon Seok-youl," and "I believe there will be significant changes by December. President Yoon will eventually realize that things cannot continue as they are."

Former leader Lee is also one of the non-Yoon faction figures mentioned alongside Yoo as potential founders of a new party. Some ruling party supporters interpret Lee's recent 'tearful press conference,' which called for changes in the presidential office, as 'preparatory work for forming a new party.' Regarding this, Lee rebutted on SBS radio, saying, "What groundwork is there to do? Haven't I already suffered enough for a year and a half?" but at the same time, he said, "Interpretation is free," keeping the possibility open.

If they form a new party about three months before the general election, how much political influence might they have?

Lee Taek-soo, CEO of the polling agency Realmeter, said on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus,' "If they form a new party after being excluded from nominations, I think they will have more centripetal force than other factions," adding, "Politicians like former lawmaker Yoo and former leader Lee have about 1-2% support in polls, so they could become a party that wins several seats as a proportional representation party or satellite party."

On the other hand, polling expert Lee Sang-il of K-Stat Consulting said, "The success probability of a new party without a strong presidential candidate is very low, so the actual scale of defections is unlikely to be large," and "It is a matter of timing; it might be possible before a presidential election, but I am skeptical about whether such new party movements can succeed before the general election."

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