Lee Jun-seok "Me, lying? Communicating with Non-Myeong"
Lee Jun-seok "Geum Tae-seop and Yang Hyang-ja open to dialogue... Justice Party too"
"New party push" Ryu Ho-jeong "Opportunity to openly discuss gender conflict"
Figures from the Bimyeong (非明) faction have drawn a line against former leader Lee Jun-seok joining the new party, but Lee still stated that he is "communicating" and left open the possibility of an alliance with the Bimyeong faction. Lee, who plans to decide on the establishment of the new party by the end of next month, revealed a vision that the new party could even break through in Gwangju, following his previous openness to running in the Yeongnam region.
On the 9th, on KBS's 'Choi Kang Sisa,' Lee said, "If the new party receives sufficient support and many people run in Yeongnam so that we can try together, I might take on even more difficult challenges," adding, "For example, as a conservative new party, not just Daegu but we could break through Gwangju as a conservative new party, among other possibilities."
The day before, in an interview on the YouTube channel 'Detox,' he hinted at running in the Yeongnam region, saying, "(Yeongnam politicians) should not be left to do politics comfortably." On the same day, in response to related questions on KBS radio, he said, "The party must make strategic decisions by gathering the consensus of its members, so I cannot make a definitive statement, but we need to consider running in Yeongnam," adding, "If a new party is formed, the most difficult task might be breaking the strongest stronghold of the established parties, so naturally, running in Yeongnam is also being considered."
Lee also revealed that he is in contact with figures from the Bimyeong faction, but since mainstream Democratic Party members such as Woo Sang-ho have not contacted him except for Lee Sang-min, it is expected that there will be no large-scale joining from the Bimyeong faction. Additionally, prominent Bimyeong figures in the Democratic Party, including Cho Eung-cheon, Lee Won-wook, and Kim Jong-min, have also expressed no intention to join. However, Lee emphasized that he continues to communicate steadily with the Bimyeong faction.
He said, "Someone like Representative Woo, as a senior member, is taking the lead to ensure that no defection or such things happen, firmly saying 'there is no such person' in strong terms," adding, "No matter how much you contact individual lawmakers through media images and ask if it's true, individual lawmakers would not say yes or no. Such talk is meaningless in the current situation, and I would not lie by saying otherwise; we are communicating."
Lee is also expected to meet soon with the third zone, including former lawmaker Geum Tae-seop, who leads 'New Choice.' In response to the host's question about whether there is a criterion for joining the new party amid various names appearing in the media such as former lawmakers Yoo Seung-min, Lee Eon-ju, Geum, and Representative Yang Hyang-ja, he said, "There is no such thing. I think, in the end, dialogue must happen," adding, "This is not an era where we say we are a conservative party or a progressive party based on ideological spectrum."
He also expressed openness to an alliance with the Justice Party. He said, "For example, with the Justice Party of the late Representative Roh Hoe-chan, we can certainly have a dialogue," adding, "If you think about it, although Representative Roh was a progressive politician, if you think carefully, when he was active in the legislature, he understood the lives of workers who took bus number 6411." Related to this, Justice Party lawmaker Ryu Ho-jeong, who leads the third zone party formation within the Justice Party, also viewed positively on SBS radio the day before, saying, "If we join together as the third zone, it might rather be an opportunity to openly discuss gender conflicts as a problem to be solved."
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