Five-Term Lawmaker Yoon Sanghyun Says "It Is My Fault, I Deeply Repent... The Party Must Reform"

On February 22, Yoon Sanghyun, a five-term senior lawmaker of the People Power Party, apologized, saying, "In the face of the reality that today’s People Power Party has failed to become an alternative political party and is instead deeply divided, causing even greater disappointment to the people, I feel deeply sorry and heartbroken."

On the same day, Yoon posted on his Facebook page an article titled "Yoon Sanghyun’s Confession of Repentance... It Is My Fault," in which he wrote about "the reality that today’s People Power Party has failed to become an alternative political party and, in a state of disarray, is causing even greater disappointment to the people."

Yoon Sanghyun of the People Power Party is asking a question during the government questioning on politics, diplomacy, unification and security held at the plenary session of the National Assembly on the 9th. Photo by Yonhap News

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He stressed, "Therefore, I first confess my own faults and responsibility," adding, "I will strive to stand before the people and party members with a more humble attitude."

Regarding the failure of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, he said, "As a senior member of the then-ruling party, I am sorry to the people and filled with lament," and he called for change and innovation within the party.

Yoon said, "We ultimately failed to stop the December 3 Martial Law and, in the end, this led to the loss of power," adding, "As a result, I am painfully reflecting on our failure to prevent the launch of the Lee Jaemyung administration, which is undermining the very foundations of the Republic of Korea."

He also pointed to the problem of division within the conservative camp. "Why did we keep repeating a self-destructive politics of division directed at one another rather than at the enemy right in front of us?" he asked, adding, "I am asking myself whether the party, unable to read public sentiment, has become an interest group, mired in self-preservation and a 'politics of subtraction.'"

He said, "We must completely break the DNA of vested-interest groups and the politics of subtraction that remain within us," and added, "We must therefore quickly set the party straight."

He went on, "So I begin by repenting. I begin by reflecting deeply. It is my fault. It is my responsibility." Yoon reiterated, "Therefore, I first confess my own faults and responsibility," and said, "I will strive to stand before the people and party members with a more humble attitude."

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