Sensitive Reaction to 'Practical Centrist Criticism'
Kwon Eun-hee: "Expression of Strong Will"
Ahn Loses Honam Support and Popularity Declines
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Ahn Cheol-soo, a former Bareunmirae Party lawmaker who is launching his fourth party, has been making strong remarks day after day. He is particularly sensitive to criticism of the "pragmatic centrism" line he has put forward. In political circles, there is an analysis that this reflects Ahn's impatience.
Kwon Eun-hee, a Bareunmirae Party lawmaker affiliated with Ahn Cheol-soo, responded on YTN Radio on the 3rd to criticism that "the concept of centrism is ambiguous" by saying, "It is a realistic point made by ordinary people," and emphasized, "Ahn's statement that it is sophistry is an expression of a strong will not to settle for the current political landscape." She added, "Compared to the old People's Party, support and trust from Honam have changed, so a difficult situation will unfold," but she was optimistic, saying, "Now, with the non-affiliated voters accounting for 33%, the space for the third zone is wide open, so the situation is better than before."
Ahn Cheol-soo intends to recreate the "green wave" from the 20th general election through the founding of a new party. However, the situation is very different from four years ago. The full support in Honam, which was the regional base of the People's Party, has already been lost. This was largely due to the split of the People's Party into two during Ahn's process of founding the Bareunmirae Party. Ahn's popularity is also not what it used to be. In a December 2023 Korea Gallup poll on the favorability of next political leaders (conducted December 10?12, nationwide 1,001 voters, 95% confidence level with ±3.1% margin of error), Ahn's unfavorability rating was 69%, the highest among those surveyed.
At a press conference held on the 2nd at the National Assembly Members' Office Building to announce the vision of the new party, Ahn said, "Pragmatic centrism is absolutely not a difficult concept," and added, "All other advanced countries are doing it. There are many actual cases. Claiming this is ambiguous is either ignorance or sophistry aimed at protecting vested political interests." He went on, "Centrism is the right path. It is not about standing in the middle but about holding the center," and said, "Everyone knows how hard and difficult that path is, and what is most needed is struggle."
Regarding established parties, Ahn criticized them as "the most backward group in South Korea," saying, "They are skilled at image manipulation only for elections and are the biggest producers of fake news. In short, they are not political parties but interest groups."
On the 31st, Ahn criticized the Moon Jae-in administration, saying, "They are spending taxes like their own money to feed their own people while passing debt onto future generations," calling it "the first shameless regime in Korean history to exploit descendants." He added, "The current government is caught up in factionalism, saying that cheating by their own side is not cheating and that illegality by their own side is not illegality," calling it "an unprecedented irrationality."
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