People Power Party lawmaker-elect Na Kyung-won, center, greets voters in Dongjak District, Seoul, Thursday, a day after the general elections for the 22nd National Assembly. Yonhap
Fringe conservative politicians who have been marginalized after criticizing President Yoon Suk Yeol are raising their voices again after surviving the ruling People Power Party’s (PPP) devastating defeat in Wednesday’s general elections.
Their survival is expected to give the PPP’s anti-Yoon faction a stronger political footing in the conservative bloc’s efforts to salvage itself from the post-election turmoil.
Rep. Yun Jae-ok, the PPP’s floor leader and acting chairman, said Friday the party will hold a meeting of senior lawmakers next week to explore ideas on “how the party will pull together after the election loss.”
“If necessary, we will discuss the party’s future plans with those newly elected [who are not incumbent lawmakers],” Yun said.
The participants of the meeting will be those who secured their fourth or higher terms, including Na Kyung-won and Ahn Cheol-soo.
The two both had conflicts with the president and have been marginalized from the party’s mainstream, but each clinched hard-fought victories in regions with neck-and-neck races — Na in the Dongjak-B constituency in Seoul and Ahn in Bundang-A in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
Na, who will be entering her fifth term, vied for the party’s leadership last year but bowed out after suffering open protests from the presidential office and Yoon loyalists within the party, as the president was backing another candidate. The presidential office had also fired her as the vice chair of the presidential population committee.
“The future of the ruling party is in peril, and the time of painful self-scrutiny awaits,” Na wrote on Facebook Thursday after confirming her victory. “I will not neglect my responsibility as a ruling party member of overseeing and checking the government.”
People Power Party lawmaker-elect Ahn Cheol-soo, front, reacts at his election camp in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday, after his victory in the general elections for the 22nd National Assembly was confirmed. Joint Press Corps
Ahn, who claimed his fourth term, had similar experiences.
The former presidential candidate faced open criticism from Yoon loyalists and presidential secretaries that his reference to “a coalition between Yoon and Ahn” during last year’s party convention had been “disrespectful to the president.”
Ahn has been critical of a series of contentious policies pushed by Yoon, including the government’s ongoing efforts to expand the admissions quota of medical schools.
During a radio interview with broadcaster MBC, Friday, Ahn said “all members of the Yoon cabinet should resign” to “humbly accept the public reprimand on the administration.”
He also said he agrees with the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea’s (DPK) plan to table a special counsel probe bill on the Yoon administration’s alleged attempt to influence an investigation into a Marine’s death.
Though Ahn said that he does not want to run for the party’s chairmanship, speculation is growing that he and Na will play important roles in filling the PPP’s leadership vacuum because the party is seeking to reassess its relationship with the president.
Reform Party head Lee Jun-seok speaks during the party’s election camp meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
Minor conservative Reform Party head Lee Jun-seok’s election win is also a critical blow to Yoon.
During an interview on TV Chosun, Thursday, Lee, a former PPP chairman who left the party after butting heads with Yoon, said “it is very clear that the Reform Party is an anti-Yoon party” and “my criticism, as a member of an opposition party, will be much stronger than what I did within the PPP.”
Serving as the PPP chairman from 2021 to 2022, Lee assisted Yoon’s victory in the 2022 presidential election and the party’s wins in local elections that year. During the presidential election campaign, however, he clashed with Yoon and his loyalists, and eventually was ousted from the chairmanship in August 2022, over a sexual bribery allegation which the prosecution dismissed later. Lee left the PPP in December last year and created the Reform Party.
Read the full article here
