"‘Lee’s Draft Has Point Deductions’ vs. ‘Blaming the Leader’ Lee Jun-seok and Kim Jae-won’s ‘Truth Dispute’"

Kim Jae-won "Submitting Nomination Management Regulations is the Representative's Authority"
Lee Jun-seok "I Have Repeatedly Said I Oppose Penalties"
Conflicting Claims Over 'Nomination Penalty' Regulations

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party. / Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, and Kim Jae-won, Supreme Council member, engaged in a 'battle of truths' over the nomination rules for the June 1 local elections. On the 21st, the People Power Party decided at the Supreme Council meeting to impose a 10% penalty if an incumbent lawmaker applies for nomination, and a 15% penalty if the candidate has a history of running as an independent within the past five years. When Representative Hong Joon-pyo, who falls under both categories, publicly opposed this, conflicting claims arose over who led the establishment of these rules.

On the 23rd, Supreme Council member Kim stated in an interview with TBS Radio, "The draft (nomination management regulations) brought by the party leader was about thirteen pages long," and added, "It included a 25% deduction for those with a history of leaving the party, a 25% deduction for those with disciplinary records, and a 15% deduction for those who received disciplinary actions such as suspension of party membership. This was the content of the draft." Leader Lee had previously stated that he "opposed all penalties," presenting a completely contradictory claim.

Kim further explained, "It is the leader's authority to submit the draft nomination management regulations to the Supreme Council, and the leader convened the meeting to discuss this, which included such content," adding, "Among these, due to various controversies, I suggested unifying the penalties to 15% because having 25% and 15% was complicated."

When the host asked, "There are talks that the penalty was set high targeting Representative Hong. Did Leader Lee bring a 35-point penalty, and did Supreme Council member Kim actually reduce it to 25 points?" Kim replied, "That was the conclusion, but the leader might have submitted it without knowing the details."

Representative Hong is an incumbent lawmaker who was elected as an independent in the April 15, 2020 general election and later rejoined the People Power Party. Applying the decided rules results in a total 25% penalty. According to Kim's claim, the draft proposed by Leader Lee imposed an even higher penalty on Representative Hong.

Kim Jae-won, Supreme Council Member of the People Power Party. / Yonhap News

Leader Lee immediately rebutted. At the National Assembly on the same day, he told reporters, "I have repeatedly stated my opposition to any form of penalty points deduction, including penalties for incumbents running or for independent candidacy history," and added, "Since Supreme Council member Kim recently decided to run for Daegu mayor, he is causing various misunderstandings and is trying to blame the party leader. I wonder what kind of situation this is."

Meanwhile, Representative Hong is opposing the fact that former Supreme Council member Kim, who declared his candidacy for Daegu mayor alongside him, participated in creating the nomination penalty rules, calling it unfair. On the 21st, he criticized in a signed statement, "A specific Supreme Council member who led the establishment of the nomination rules declared his candidacy and immediately attended the Supreme Council to demand and enforce rules favorable to himself. This is an abuse of authority using his position."