Jang Ye-chan: "The Failure of the Lee Jun-seok Faction Is Lee Jun-seok's Fault"

"Should Have Been Out After Cutoff... Not Someone to Be Judged"
"Lee Jun-seok Must Resolve Judicial Risks First"

Jang Ye-chan, the youngest supreme council member elected to the People Power Party leadership at the party convention, pointed out that the failure of the 'Lee Jun-seok faction' candidates to enter the leadership was "because of former leader Lee Jun-seok."

On the 9th, Jang, the youngest supreme council member, said on SBS's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show,' "It was a strategic mistake to ally with the politician Lee Jun-seok and carry out the election until the end."

Jang Ye-chan, the newly appointed Youth Supreme Committee member of the People Power Party, is delivering an acceptance speech at the 3rd Party Convention of the People Power Party held on the 8th at KINTEX in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

In this party convention, all candidates supported by former leader Lee Jun-seok?Cheon Ha-ram, Heo Eun-ah, Kim Yong-tae, and Lee Gi-in?were defeated. Jang said, "(Former leader Lee Jun-seok) actually helped to raise recognition a bit in the early stages, but from the perspective of the overall race and long-term view of the convention, it was right for him to step back after passing the cut-off," adding, "However, from the candidates' standpoint, it was difficult to ask Lee, who helped increase their recognition and media exposure, to step back, and Lee himself should have stepped back saying 'Now is the time for me to withdraw,' but as you know, he is not the kind of person to make such a judgment."

Jang criticized that the Lee Jun-seok faction candidates should have stood out in the election, but only Lee himself was visible. He said, "He is the type of person who needs to do one more interview or have one more word appear in an article to feel satisfied, so he did not open space for these four candidates to do their own politics," adding, "As a result, this became a strategic mistake for the four candidates, and I advise them to calm down well and quickly break away from Lee's shadow."

The final voter turnout for this party convention approached 55%. Some interpret this as a result of 'full mobilization of the organization.' Regarding this, Jang said, "It is impossible for 450,000 to 460,000 people to vote solely by organizational power," adding, "I think there was a wind blowing, but it is correct to interpret that wind as a call to 'not shake the Yoon Seok-yeol government and to support it.'

He said, "Looking at the last party convention of the Democratic Party where Lee Jae-myung was elected leader, the turnout was only in the 30% range. That is proof that there was no wind and it was an organized election by 'Gaeddal' (devoted supporters)," adding, "On the other hand, this election, with a turnout exceeding 55% and nearly 500,000 party members participating, was driven more by the members' own enthusiasm and wind than by the organization."

Regarding former leader Lee's future moves, he said, "He must first resolve his judicial risks," pointing out, "We criticize Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party because he has not resolved his judicial risks and keeps turning this into a political frame, which draws public criticism. Former leader Lee is also currently under indictment recommendation related to false accusation."

He added, "We criticize Lee Jae-myung for judicial risks, but the People Power Party cannot be criticized for having politicians with unresolved judicial risks as well," concluding, "It is not yet time to discuss this."