Kwon Young-guk "Justice Party, Lost Trust, Will Return to Labor Sites"

"Settling in the Assembly and Losing Trust"
"Secondary Force Frame... The Challenge Is to Stabilize the Party Center"

The Justice Party, which was pushed out of the National Assembly in the last general election as an extraparliamentary party, has formed the 'Kwon Young-guk system' to normalize itself. Kwon Young-guk, the leader of the Justice Party, stated, "Restoring trust in the labor field is extremely important," and announced that the party will focus its efforts on restoring its worker-centered identity.

On the 29th, on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus,' Leader Kwon commented on the Justice Party's fall to an extraparliamentary party, saying, "(The Justice Party) lost the trust of the people," and added, "At some point, it seemed like the party was complacent within the National Assembly, and there were many evaluations that the party was not visible in the harsh and intense realities of life and labor sites."

Kwon Young-guk, the newly appointed leader of the Justice Party, is speaking at the inauguration and resignation ceremony of the 7th and 8th leadership of the Justice Party held at the National Assembly on the morning of the 28th. Photo by Yonhap News

He continued, "How close we stand to the realities of life and labor sites and whether we can raise our voices together is the most important issue," and said, "I believe that regaining trust from labor is the most urgent task."

Leader Kwon identified the challenges facing the Justice Party as its status as an extraparliamentary party and its internal debt. He said, "We calculated that the party's debt is about 3 billion won," and explained, "This was due to loans taken out to support election funds for candidates running in the 21st general election constituencies."

He also expressed difficulties as a third party. Leader Kwon said, "Being a third party means that you can either cooperate with or oppose the two major parties on various values," and added, "The Justice Party is often described as the Democratic Party's second squad or the People Power Party's second squad, but it is a significant challenge and a difficult issue for a third party to establish its own center."

Regarding the role of Shim Sang-jung, a Justice Party lawmaker and symbol of the 'progressive party,' he dismissed the idea that she would take a leading or behind-the-scenes role, saying, "It seems she has given up on the idea of stepping forward or playing any role behind the scenes." He added, "She has been the most symbolic figure for 20 years and has always supported and encouraged the Justice Party to find its proper path as a progressive party, but she has declared her retirement from politics."

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