Kim Jong-hyeok: "Han Dong-hoon Became a Scapegoat for the Pro-Yoon Lawmakers of the People Power Party"

"Intent to Oust Han Dong-hoon Using Impeachment as a Pretext"

Regarding the resignation of former People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon, who supported the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol on the 16th, Kim Jong-hyuk, a senior member of the PPP, claimed, "He became a scapegoat for the pro-Yoon (pro-Yoon Suk-yeol) faction lawmakers."

On the 17th, Kim made this statement on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' saying, "A scapegoat is needed to cover up the events that occurred during the state of emergency and the impeachment crisis, and they are making former leader Han the scapegoat," adding, "This reveals the true intention to oust the leader under the pretext of impeachment."

Kim Jong-hyuk, Supreme Council Member of the People Power Party. Photo by Yonhap News

On the 14th, at the National Assembly plenary session, the impeachment motion against President Yoon was passed with 204 votes in favor, 85 against, 3 abstentions, and 8 invalid votes out of 300 members. If PPP lawmakers had been determined to block President Yoon's impeachment at all costs, they would not have entered the plenary session. Kim, while opposing the motion as the party line, argued that once the decision to vote was made, the impeachment was effectively done. He explained, "They must have expected many votes in favor of impeachment," and added, "There was a political calculation to place responsibility on former leader Han and those close to him and use it as a pretext for attacks."

The pro-Yoon faction and senior lawmakers branded former leader Han a 'traitor' for supporting President Yoon's impeachment. Furthermore, with the resignation of the party's top committee members leading to the collapse of the leadership, Han resigned. Kim said, "If former leader Han had remained as party leader, the pro-Yoon faction would have launched terrible attacks to cover up their own actions," and claimed, "From the primary election through to after it ended, they wanted to push him out, citing things like the Kim Ok-gyun project."

Kim criticized the pro-Yoon faction lawmakers, saying, "They want to reduce the People Power Party to what is called the 'Yeongnam Jaminryun' and, even if it means losing power, they insist on sticking together tightly to maintain their parliamentary seats in the region."

Former PPP leader Han Dong-hoon stated upon his resignation that although supporting the impeachment was painful, he does not regret it. He warned that if conservatives sympathize with or are consumed by conspiracy theorists of election fraud and extremist YouTubers, the future of conservatism will be lost.

Kim Jong-hyuk agreed with this statement. He said, "If such extremists or conspiracy theorists dominate, not only the future of conservatism but also the future of the Republic of Korea will be lost," adding, "The situation unfolding after the state of emergency is too surreal." He continued, "President Yoon's stance of claiming he has done nothing wrong is tantamount to sending a message to his supporters to come out onto the streets and protest," and said, "Korean society is completely torn apart, continuing in conflict and strife. It is a very unfortunate situation." He concluded, "As a politician, I feel deeply ashamed and sorry for not being able to prevent this."

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