Yoon Seok-yeol's Piling Challenges... Narrowed Gaps, Prolonged Conflicts, and Pressing Time

Today's Headquarters Meeting Canceled
Official Launch Next Week Also Incomplete

Leadership Cracks Due to Representative's Absence
Yoon's Staff Attempts Contact with Lee

If Support Drops Over Weekend
Yoon May Reconsider Appointment Plan

Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the People Power Party, has not returned to party duties for the third day, resulting in the cancellation of the party’s election campaign committee meeting scheduled for the 2nd. The official launch of the campaign committee planned for the 6th is also likely to proceed in a strange manner without the party leader. Presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol continued his normal schedule on the day without attempting direct calls or meetings with Lee. He consistently remained silent in response to reporters’ questions regarding the party leader.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As the standoff between the party leader and the presidential candidate continues without any concessions, the situation is turning somewhat unfavorable for candidate Yoon. First, the damage to the presidential candidate’s ‘leadership’ could be critical, as it may lead to doubts about his conflict resolution abilities. A People Power Party campaign committee official said, "Depending on the candidate’s intentions, Secretary-General Kwon Seong-dong is attempting meetings and making communication efforts so that the leader can participate in the campaign committee either directly or indirectly."

However, since the card to change Lee’s mind is ultimately the ‘campaign committee appointments’ insisted on by candidate Yoon, the room to break through the situation appears very narrow. There is a possibility that Yoon and Lee may hold a sudden meeting over the weekend, but it is highly likely to end without any significant outcome beyond the meeting itself. Lee continues to advocate for the recruitment of former emergency committee chairman Kim Jong-in, but the campaign committee has already started operations under the leadership of Kim Byung-joon as the standing general campaign chairman, making reversal difficult. From Yoon’s perspective, accepting all of Lee’s demands could risk losing his authority as the presidential candidate.

Recently, the gap in approval ratings with Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, has been narrowing, and the day before, Yoon was even overtaken within the margin of error (35.5% to 34.6%). On the 2nd, new results showed the gap between the two candidates narrowing to 1 percentage point. Although these surveys were conducted before the conflict with Lee was reflected, Yoon can only wait anxiously for the next poll results amid the leadership damage controversy. If this trend accelerates, there is a possibility that a hurried Yoon might undertake a reorganization of the campaign committee appointments.

While Lee’s campaign committee is accelerating talent recruitment and gaining momentum, the uncertainty of even launching the campaign committee due to internal discord is becoming a major obstacle to Yoon’s presidential campaign.

Standing campaign chairman Kim said on the radio that day, "(Candidate Yoon) is naturally moving and also worried," adding, "He is worried, but an incident happened and there is a period of reflection. The most frustrated person is the candidate." Representative Park Soo-young also said on the radio that day, "If you put aside all personal thoughts and focus only on the public’s desire for regime change, it’s a winning game."